Patronage, performance, and reputation in the eighteenth-century church

The perceived success of the revisionist programme in dissipating the ‘longest shadow in modern historiography’ calls into question the ongoing relevance of ‘optimistic’ versus ‘pessimistic’ interpretations of the Church of England in the long eighteenth century. And yet, the case of Lancelot Blackburne, Archbishop of York (1724-1743), has not benefitted from the ‘revisionist turn’ and represents an unparalleled problem in accounts of the Georgian episcopate. Whilst Benjamin Hoadly has been the most maligned bishop of the period for his theology, Blackburne is the most derided for his personal imperfections and supposed negligence of his episcopal duties. These references are often pernicious and euphemistic, manifesting in several quasi-apocryphal tales. The most regularly occurring being accounts of Blackburne’s lasciviousness, speculation over the paternity of his chaplain Thomas Hayter, and the Archbishop’s association with piracy. As long as these bastions of resistance to revisionism remain, negative assumptions will linger on in contemporary studies of the Church, regardless of whether they are reframed by current trends. As such, this thesis utilises under-explored archival sources to reorient Blackburne’s case to its historical context. This is achieved through an exploration of the inter-connected themes of patronage, performance, and reputation. First, this thesis delineates Blackburne’s distribution of episcopal patronage across the various administrative strata of his diocese, exploring how these appointments contributed to the task of ‘turning’ the diocese toward the Whig ministry. It also investigates the reciprocal obligations of the patronage bargain, elucidating the correlation between spiritual services and temporal rewards. Second, this thesis challenges the claims of neglect that underpin pessimistic accounts of Blackburne’s archiepiscopacy, positing that supposed marks of poor performance are mis-reading of the Archbishop’s changing approach to diocesan management occasioned by his declining health. Finally, this thesis investigates under-analysed afterlives of patronage relationships, and the long shadow cast by a patron over their clients’ subsequent careers. Finally, Blackburne’s status as a mythologised patron is considered, exploring the intertwining of contemporary, politically-motivated scandal and the mythologisation of an historical figure.

Grantor dc:publisher

Oxford Brookes University

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Reed, Daniel

Contributors dc:contributor

• Begiato, Joanne
• Gibson, William

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language

en

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.24384/ga3r-c859

OAI identifier oai:identifier

tle:376b2bef-bed7-422d-a849-9e21d5b45480:d6bd9758-527a-46cd-bfe2-c433766e8fca:1