PARKER, MATTHEW, the second Protestant archbishop of Canterbury, was born at Norwich, Aug. 6, 1504, studied at Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, and was ordained a priest in 1527. At the university he was a distinguished student, especially of tha Scrip tures and of the history of the church, even to antiquarian minuteness; yet, in spite of his strong leaning to the past, he was from an early period favorably dispokd toward the doctrines of the Reformation, and lived in close intimacy with some of the more ardent reformers. In 1533 he was appointed chaplain to queen Anne Boleyn,who thought very highly of him, and not long before her death exhorted her daughter Elizabeth to avail herself of Parker's wise and pious counsel. In 1535 he obtained the deanery of the monastic college of Stoke-Clare in Suffolk—Roman Catholicism, it must not be forgotten, being still the professed religion of the land, for Henry had not yet formally broken with the pope—and here the studious clerk continued his pursuit of classical and ecclesias. tical literature, and at the same time set himself to"correct the prevailing decay of morals and learning in the church, by founding a school in the locality for the purpose of instructing the youth in the study of grammar and humanity. Here, too, he appears foi the first tune to have definitely sided with the reforming party in the church and state, the sermons which he preached containing bold attacks on different Catholic tenets and practices. In 1538 Parker took the degree. of D.D.; and in 1544, after some minim' changes, became master of Corpus Christi c011ege, Cambridge,which he ruled admirably. Three years later he married Margaret Harlstone, the daughter of a Norfolkshire gentle man. It was probably about this time that lie drew up his defense of the marriage of priests, entitled De Conjugio Bacerclotum. In 1552 lie was presented by king Edward VI. to the canonry and prebend of Covingham, in the church of Lincoln. On the accession of queen Mary lie refused to conform to the re-established order of things, and was (like many others of the new school of divines) deprived of his preferments, and even obliged to conceal himself. - It does not appear, however, that he was eagerly sought after by the emissaries of Mary; for he was no fanatic or iconoclast, but. on the contrary, though sincerely attached to the common Protestant doctrines, very to disturb the framework of the church. Parker spent at least some portion of his compulsory seclusion from public life in the enlargement of his De Conjugio Sacirdotvm. and in translating the Psalms into English meter. The death of Mary, and the accession of Elizabeth, called him from that learned retirement of 'which lie seems to have been sincerely fond. Sir Nicholas Bacon, now lord-keeper of the great seal, and sir William Cecil, secretary of state, both old Cambridge friends, knew what a solid and sure judgment,wh at -a moderate and equable spirit, and above all, what a thorough faculty for business, ecclesiastical and secular, Parker had, and by their recommendation he was appointed, by the queen, archbishop of Canterbury. The consecration took place in Lambeth chapel, Dec. 17,
1559.
"The subsequent history of archbishop Parker," it has been justly remarked, " is that of the church of England." The difficulties that beset him were very great. Elizabeth herself was much addicted to various "popish " practices, such as the idolatrous use of images, and was strongly, we might even say violently, in favor of the celibacy of the clergy. She went so far as to insult Parker's wife on one occasion. But his greatest anxiety was in regard to the spirit of sectarian dissension within the bosom of the church itself. Already the germs of puritanism were beginning to spring up, and there can be no doubt that their growth was fostered by the despotic caprices of the queen, Parker himself was manifestly convinced that if ever Protestantism was to he 'firmly established in the laud at all, some definite ecclesiastical forms and methods must be sanctioned to secure the triumph of order over anarchy, and so he vigorously set about the repression of what he thought a mutinous individualism Incompatible with a Catholic spirit. That lie always acted wisely or well, cannot be affirmed; he was forced, by virtue of his very attitude, into intolerant and inquisitorial courses, and as he grew older he grew harsher, the conservative spirit increasing with his years. To forbid " prophesyings," or meet ings for religious discourse, was something very like persecution, though probably enough something very like treason to the church was talked in these pious conventicles. Fuller (who must have his pun, however bad) says of him: " He was a Parker indeed, careful to keep the fences." Yet it must not be forgotten that it is to Parker we owe the Bish op's Bible, undertaken at his request, carried on under his inspection, and published at his expense in 1568. He had also the principal share in drawing up the Book: of Common Prayer, for which his skill in ancient liturgies peculiarly fitted him, and which strikingly bears the impress of his broad, moderate, and unsectarian intellect. It was under his presidency, too, that the Thirty-nine Articles were finally reviewed and subscribed by the clergy (1562). Parker died May 17, 1575.
Among other literary performances, published an old Saxon Homily on Az Sacrament, by tElfric of St. Albans, to prove that transubstantiation was not the doctrine of the ancient English church; edited the histories of Matthew of Westminster and Matthew Paris (q.v.); and superintended the publication of a most valuable work, De Antiquitate Britannica Ecclesim, probably printed at Lambeth in 1572, where the arch bishop, we are told, had an establishment of printers, engravers, and illuminators. He also founded the " society of antiquaries," and was its first president; endowed the uni versity of Cambridge, and particularly his own college, with many fellowships and scholarships, and with a magnificent collection of MSS. relating to the civil and ecclesi astical condition of England, and belonging to nine different centuries (from the 8th to the 15th) Of this collection Fuller said that it was "the sun of English antiquity before it was eclipsed by that of sir Robert Cotton."