Matthew, Tobie (Tobias) (1544-01-01 - 1628-03-29)

Born in Bristol ca. 1544 to John Matthew and his second wife, Eleanor Crofton. Matriculated at University College Oxford in 1559; BA from Christ Church in 1564; MA and fellow there, 1566. That year he was also selected to debate fellow student and future Jesuit Edmund Campion in a disputation in St Mary's Church before the Queen. He evidently impressed the Queen, who made him made royal-chaplain-in-ordinary in 1572 after his ordination. Meanwhile, he earned many other academic and ecclesiastical preferments: public orator of the university, 1569; canon of Christ Church, 1570; rector of Algarkirk, Lincoln; prebendary of Teynton Regis, Salisbury Cathedral, 1572; archdeacon of Bath and president of St John's College later that year (which he held until 1577); reader in Greek and BTh, 1573; DTh, 1574; dean of Christ Church, 1576. Further solidified his position in the church hierarchy in 1577 with his marriage to Frances Parker, widow of the archbishop's son and daughter of Bishop of Bath and Wells, William Barlow. Dean of Durham Cathedral in 1583, resigning from Christ Church the following year. He continued to seek promotion and his persistence was rewarded with his appointment as Bishop of Durham in 1595 and Archbishop of York in 1606. Died 29 March 1628.