Bernard Gilpin

Bernard Gilpin (1517 – 4 March 1583), was an Oxford theologian and then an influential clergyman in the emerging Church of England spanning the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane, Mary and Elizabeth I. He was known as the 'Apostle of the North', for his work in the wilds of northern England.

Bernard Gilpin descended from a Westmorland family with a pedigree back to Richard de Gylpyn in about 1206. He was born at Kentmere Hall, the son of Edwin and Margaret (née Layton), and grew up in the Kentmere valley; the parish church of St Cuthbert is today little changed from mid seventeenth century drawings, and its churchyard contains a yew tree known to Gilpin, being certified over 1,000 years old. George Gilpin was his elder brother. Margaret's uncle was Cuthbert Tunstall, Bishop of London and then of Durham, and Executor of Henry VIII's Estate.

He entered The Queen's College, Oxford in 1533, graduating Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1540, Master of Arts (M.A.) in 1542 and Bachelor of Divinity (B.D.) in 1549. He was elected fellow of Queen's and ordained in 1542; subsequently he was elected Student of Christ Church. He was a diligent student of the writings of Erasmus.

However, at Oxford he first adhered to the conservative side, and defended the doctrines of the church against the Marian Persecutions, and in particular John Hooper, one of the first four Marian Martyrs.

Peter Martyr, Pietro Martire Vermigli, a leading Italian Reformer, was appointed to the chair of Divinity of Oxford. In the course of his Lectures on 1st Corinthians he attacked the Romish doctrine of transubstantiation. In the subsequent debate opponents of Peter Martyr's view included Bernard Gilpin, along with Doctors Tresham, Chedsey and Morgan.

In November 1552 he was presented to the vicarage of Norton, in the diocese of Durham. Persons appointed to livings in Royal patronage at that time were required to preach before the King, that there might be an opportunity of ascertaining their orthodoxy. Accordingly, on the first Sunday after Epiphany 1553 Gilpin went to Greenwich to preach in the Royal presence. His sermon on sacrilege is extant and displays the high ideal he had formed of the clerical office.

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