Nicholas West

For other people named Nicholas West, see Nicholas West (disambiguation).

Nicholas West memorial, St Mary's, Putney

Nicholas West (1461 – 28 April 1533), was an English bishop and diplomatist, born at Putney, and educated at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge, of which he became a fellow in 1486.^[1] He also had periods of study at Oxford and Bologna.^[2]

He was soon ordained and appointed rector of Egglescliffe, Durham, receiving a little later two other livings and becoming chaplain to King Henry VII.

In 1509 Henry VIII appointed him dean of St. George's Chapel, Windsor (during which times its fan vaulting was completed),^[2] and in 1515 he was elected bishop of Ely. Prior to his elevation, West was (or was also) Archdeacon of Derby.^[3] West's long and successful career as a diplomatist began in 1502 through his friendship with Richard Foxe, bishop of Durham.

In the interests of Henry VII he visited the German king Maximilian I and George, Duke of Saxony; in 1506 he negotiated an important commercial treaty with Flanders, and he attempted to arrange marriages between the king's daughter Mary and the future emperor Charles V, and between the king himself and Charles's sister Margaret.

By Henry VIII, West was sent many times to Scotland and France. Occupied mainly during the years 1513 and 1514 with journeys to and from Scotland, he visited Louis XII of France in the autumn of 1514 and his successor Francis I in 1515.

In 1515 also he arranged a defensive treaty between England and France, and he was principally responsible for treaties concluded between the two countries in 1518 and 1525, and at other times. He was trusted and employed on personal matters by Cardinal Wolsey. He was also involved in the negotiations at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520.^[2] He helped complete the legal statutes establishing Jesus College, Cambridge, which had been founded in 1496 by one of West's predecessors as Bishop of Ely, John Alcock.^[2]

Bishop West's Chantry Chapel, Ely Cathedral. The niche statues were destroyed by his successor, the reformer Bishop Goodrich.

He became Bishop of Ely in 1515 and for the remaining 19 years of his life 'lived in greater splendour than any other prelate of his time, having more than a hundred servants.'^[4] He was able to build a magnificent Chantry chapel at the south-east side of the eastern arm of Ely Cathedral, panelled with niches for statues (which were destroyed or disfigured just a few years later at the reformation), and with fan tracery forming the ceiling, and West's tomb on the south side.^[5]

In 1771 the chapel was also used to house the bones of seven Saxon 'benefactors of the church'. These had been translated from the old Saxon Abbey into the Norman building, and had been placed in a wall of the choir when it stood in the Octagon. When the choir stalls were moved, their enclosing wall was demolished, and the bones of Wulfstan (died 1023), Osmund of Sweden, Athelstan of Elmham, Ælfwine of Elmham, Ælfgar of Elmham, Eadnoth of Dorchester and Brythnoth, first Abbot of Ely were found, and relocated into Bishop West's chapel.^[5] Also sharing Nicholas West's chapel, against the east wall, is the tomb memorial to Bishop Sparke, who died 1836.^[6]

The bishop also built a beautiful chapel in St. Mary's Church, Putney, where he had been born.

References

↑ "West, Nicholas (WST483N)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
1 2 3 4 Jesus College, Cambridge: Pen Portraits - Nicholas West Accessed 4 May 2015
↑ Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541: Archdeacons of Derby
↑ King, Richard John (1862). "Ely Cathedral". Handbook to the Cathedrals of England – Vol. 3, Eastern Division. John Murray. p. 252.
1 2 King 1862, p. 214-5.
↑ King 1862, p. 215.

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "West, Nicholas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by James Stanley	Bishop of Ely 1515–1534	Succeeded by Thomas Goodrich

Archdeacons of Derby

High Medieval	G. Richard Froger N. Godfrey de Luci Yvo Vivian de Stagno William de Muschamp William de Luteby David de Sancta Frideswida William de Weston Simon Jordan de Wymburne Elias de Napton

Late Medieval	Geoffrey de Blaby/Glaston Anthony de Monte Peliologo John de Asheby John de Marisco Hugh de Marisco Robert de Stretton William Lombe John de Outheby Walter Bullock John Bride William Chauntre Edmund Hals

Early modern	Nicholas West John Taylor Richard Strete David Pole John Ramridge Richard Walker Laurence Nowell Luke Gilpin Walter Marsh John Walton Valentine Overton Christopher Helme Samuel Clerk William Higgins Thomas Brown/Browne Francis Ashenhurst Thomas Goodwin Henry Ryder Sneyd Davies Henry Egerton

Late modern	James Falconer Edmund Outram Samuel Butler Francis Hodgson Walter Shirley Thomas Hill Southwell diocese: Edward Balston Henry Freer Edward Were Derby diocese: Edward Noakes Henry FitzHerbert John Richardson Robert Dell Ian Gatford Christopher Cunliffe

Deans of Windsor

Late Medieval	William Mugge Walter Almaly Thomas Butler Richard Kingston John Arundel Thomas Manning John Faux William Morland William Dudley Peter Courtenay Richard Beauchamp Thomas Danett William Bealey John Morgan Christopher Urswick

Early modern	Christopher Bainbridge Thomas Hobbs Nicholas West John Vesey John Clerk Richard Sampson William Franklyn Owen Oglethorpe Hugh Weston John Boxall George Carew William Day Robert Bennet Giles Thomson Anthony Maxey Marco Antonio de Dominis Henry Beaumont Matthew Wren Christopher Wren Edward Hyde Bruno Ryves John Durell Francis Turner Gregory Hascard Thomas Manningham John Robinson The Lord Willoughby de Broke Peniston Booth Frederick Keppel John Harley John Douglas James Cornwallis Charles Manners-Sutton

Late modern	Edward Legge Henry Hobart George Neville-Grenville Gerald Wellesley George Connor Randall Davidson Philip Eliot Albert Baillie Eric Hamilton Robin Woods Launcelot Fleming Michael Mann Patrick Mitchell David Conner

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 263891160 SUDOC: 150137206

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