View source for Richard Sampson

{{Short description|English diplomat and bishop; composer}}
{{Other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
'''Richard Sampson''' (died 25 September 1554) was an English clergyman and [[composer]] of sacred music. He was an Anglican [[bishop of Chichester]], and subsequently of [[Bishop of Lichfield|Coventry and Lichfield]].

==Biography==
He was educated at [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]], the Paris [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] and [[Sens]] (also in France).<ref>{{acad|id=SM506R|name=Sampson, Richard}}</ref> Having become Doctor of [[Canon Law]], he was appointed by [[Cardinal Wolsey]] as [[diocesan chancellor]] and [[vicar-general]] in his diocese (the [[bishopric of Tournai]]), where he lived until 1517. Meanwhile, he gained English preferment, becoming [[Dean (religion)|Dean]] of [[St. Stephen's, Westminster]] and of the [[Chapel Royal]] (1516), [[Archdeacon of Cornwall]] (1517) and [[prebendary]] of [[Newbald]] (1519). From 1522 to 1525 he was English ambassador to [[Emperor Charles V]]. He was now [[Dean of Windsor]] (1523), [[Vicar]] of [[Stepney (parish)|Stepney]] (1526) and held [[prebend]]s at [[St. Paul's Cathedral]] and at [[Lichfield]]; he was also [[Archdeacon of Suffolk]] (1529).

He became one of [[Henry VIII|Henry VIII Tudor]]'s chief agents in the royal divorce proceedings, which assisted the advancement of his ecclesiastical career{{emdash}}he was awarded the [[deanery]] of [[Lichfield]] in 1533, the [[rectory]] of Hackney (1534), and treasurership of Salisbury (1535). On 11 June 1536, he was elected [[Bishop of Chichester]], and as such furthered Henry's political and{{emdash}}from the Catholic point of view schismatical{{emdash}}ecclesiastical policy, though not sufficiently thoroughly to satisfy archbishop [[Thomas Cranmer]]. He was one of the so-called moderate Catholic bishops, who would accede to the [[Royal Supremacy]] as long as Protestant teachings did not compromise the liturgy and sacraments. In 1540 he may have been sent to the tower for being too Catholic.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miner |first1=Bonaventure |title=The Propaganda Campaign against the Holy See by the Henrician Bishops |journal=Canadaian Catholic Historical Association Report |date=1953 |volume=20 |url=https://cchahistory.ca/journal/CCHA1953/Bonaventure.pdf}}</ref>

On 19 February 1543, he was translated to the [[bishopric of Coventry and Lichfield]] on the royal authority alone, without papal confirmation. He held his bishopric through the reign of [[Edward VI Tudor|Edward VI]], though Dodd says he was deprived for recanting his disloyalty to the pope. Godwin the Anglican writer and the Catholic [[John Pitts (Catholic scholar)|John Pitts]] both agree that he did so retract, but are silent as to his deprivation. He wrote an "Oratio" in defence of the royal prerogative (1533) and an explanation of the [[Psalms]] (1539–48) and of the [[Pauline Epistle to the Romans]] (1546).

He died at [[Eccleshall]] in [[Staffordshire]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Catholic|wstitle=Richard Sampson}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-rel|en}}
{{s-bef| before=[[Robert Sherborne]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Bishop of Chichester]] | years=1536&ndash;1543}}
{{s-aft| after=[[George Day (bishop)|George Day]]}}
{{s-bef| before=[[Rowland Lee (bishop)|Rowland Lee]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Bishop of Lichfield]] | years=1543&ndash;1554}}
{{s-aft| after=[[Ralph Baines]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Bishops of Chichester}}
{{Bishops of Coventry and Lichfield}}
{{Archdeacons of Cornwall}}
{{Deans of Lichfield}}
{{St Paul's Cathedral}}
{{Deans of the Chapel Royal}}
{{Archdeacons of Suffolk}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Richard}}
[[Category:15th-century births]]
[[Category:1554 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Bishops of Chichester]]
[[Category:Bishops of Lichfield]]
[[Category:Burials in Staffordshire]]
[[Category:Deans of Windsor]]
[[Category:Archdeacons of Cornwall]]
[[Category:Archdeacons of Suffolk]]
[[Category:16th-century Church of England bishops]]
[[Category:Deans of St Paul's]]
[[Category:Deans of the Chapel Royal]]
[[Category:English Renaissance composers]]
[[Category:16th-century English musicians]]
[[Category:16th-century English composers]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of England to the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Deans of Lichfield]]
[[Category:16th-century English diplomats]]
[[Category:Deans of St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster]]
[[Category:English male classical composers]]
[[Category:16th-century Anglican theologians]]