Matthew Wren (a)

1893 text

Matthew Wren, born 1585, successively Bishop of Hereford, Norwich, and Ely. At the commencement of the Rebellion he was sent to the Tower, and remained a prisoner there eighteen years. Died April 24th, 1667.

This text comes from a footnote on a diary entry in the 1893 edition edited by Henry B. Wheatley.

4 Annotations

First Reading

helena murphy  •  Link

Matthew Wren was an uncle of Christopher Wren who redesigned St Paul's after the Great Fire.But even before this catastrophe he was in the forefront of those who desired to restore the cathedral to its former grandeur. For him the Restoration meant the restoration of St Paul's. He was one of the great survivors of the civil war, the Commonwealth,and the Cromwellian Protectorate. While in prison he shared a cell with Archbishop Laud, a follower of Arminianism who was executed in January 1645 for his beliefs. Laud had set aside 800 pounds in his will for the renovation of the building.It had greatly suffered from Parliamentarian troops who stabled their horses there, and the cathedral plate had been melted down to pay the army. In an outburst of frenzy the stained glass had been shattered, and on a more practical level all the woodwork had been taken for firewood. Obviously his determination to restore St Paul's was also to keep alive the memory and martyrdom of his dear friend, Laud.

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

Matthew Wren, Bishop of Hereford, 1634-35; Bishop of Norwich, 1635-38; Bishop of Ely, 1638-67. He died April 24th, 1667, aged eighty-one.
---Wheatley, 1899.

Bill  •  Link

WREN, MATTHEW (1686-1667), bishop of Ely ; B.A. Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, 1606: fellow, 1606; M.A., 1608; incorporated at Oxford, 1608; chaplain to Prince Charles, 1622: D.D. Cambridge, 1623, Oxford, 1636; prebendary of Winchester, 1623; master of Peterhouse, 1636; dean of Windsor and registrar of the Garter, 1628; clerk of the closet, 1633; governor of Charterhouse, Loudon, 1634; bishop of Hereford, 1634; prebendary of Westminster, 1636 : bishop of Norwich, 1636; dean of Chapel Royal, London, 1636-41: bishop of Ely, 1638; acted under supervision of Laud, after whose impeachment he was imprisoned in Tower of London, 1642-60. His son, also Matthew, was one of original council of Royal Society, 1662.
---Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome. S. Lee, 1906.

His son Matthew Wren (b): http://www.pepysdiary.com/encyclo…

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1660

1661

1663