Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 04.djvu/142

 were drawn up by the archbishop ( and, i. 571-9; , Angl. Sacr. ii. 651; , Concilia, ii. 106). The same year, on Sunday, 26 Nov., Eaward I and his queen visited St. David's 'peregrinationis causa,' and we may safely conclude were the guests of the bishop (Angl. Sacr. ii. 651). When at the close of the same year his brother Antony was appointed to the see of Durham, a dispute occurring between the prior and the official of York as to the right of instalment, that 'masterful prelate ' settled the matter by calling in his brother of St. David's to perform the office (ib. i. 747). In 1287 Bek completed the imperfect capitular body of St. David's, which had consisted only of a bishop and dean in one person and a precentor, by the addition of a chancellor and treasurer, together with a sub-dean and a sub-chanter ( and, pp. 301, 322). To extend the advantages of a resident body of clergy to the more neglected parts of his wide-spread diocese, he in 1283 founded the collegiate church of Llangadoc (Angl. Sacr. ii. 651), which was very speedily removed to Abergwili, and in 1287 another at Llandewi-Brefi (, Collectan. i. 323), and a hospital at Llawhaden, and obtained two weekly markets from the king for his cathedral city ( and, pp. 300-2). We learn from a survey of Sherwood Forest that Bek had a hermitage at Eastwait on Mansfield Moor, Nottinghamshire, to which he was in the habit of retiring for meditation. According to Bartholomew Cotton (de Rege Edwardo I, p. 177, Rolls Series), Bek was one of the many men of high rank who in 1290 were induced by the impassioned preaching of Archbishop Peckham to take the cross and set out for the Holy Land 'sine spe remeandi' (Annanl. Monast. (Osney), iv. 336). If he actually left England, which is not quite certain, he returned in safety and died on 12 May 1293, and was succeeded by Bishop David Martyn.



BEK, THOMAS II (1282–1347), bishop of Lincoln, born on 22 Feb. 1282, was the youngest of the three sons of Walter Bek of Luceby, constable of Lincoln Castle [see ], a kinsman of the bishops of Durham and St. David's. His father died on 25 Aug. 1291, when Thomas was nine years old, and he and his brothers, John and [q. v.] (afterwards bishop of Norwich), probably became wards of Anthony, bishop of Durham. Devoting himself to the clerical profession, he attained considerable distinction, being styled 'clericus nobilis et excellens' by Walsingham (p. 150). He became doctor of canon law, and in 1335 received the prebendal stall of Clifton in the cathedral of Lincoln (, Fasti (Hardy), ii. 132). On the death of Bishop Burghersh in December 1340 he succeeaed to the bishopric of Lincoln, being, it would seem, then at the papal court at Avignon. Though the royal assent was given to his election on 1 March 1341, his consecration was delayed by the pope till the next year (, 115, apud, Fasti Ebor. p. 439, note m), when it took place at Avignon on Sunday, 7 July 1342, at the same time with Archbishop Zouche of York. He obtained letters of protection to come to England from Rome, and the temporalities of the see were restored to him on 17 Sept. (Pat. 16 Edw. III, p. 3, m. 20). His episcopate lasted only five years. He died on 2 Feb. 1346-7, and in his will, which is extant, he desired to be buried on the north side of the steps leading from the chapter-house to the choir.



BEKE, CHARLES TILSTONE (1800–1874), Abyssinian explorer, was born at Stepney, Middlesex, 10 Oct. 1800. He came of an ancient Kentish family, which, in the twelfth century, gave its name to Bekesbourne; and there Beke himself resided for some years. His father was a prominent citizen of London. Beke was educated at a private school in Hackney, and in 1820 he entered upon a business career. His commercial pursuits called him from London to Genoa and Naples. Upon his return from the latter place he determined to abandon, commerce, and entered himself at Lincoln's Inn, where he studied law. While pursuing the legal profession, he published several papers in the Imperial Magazine and other periodicals concerning biblical and archæological research. His first work of importance, entitled Origines Biblicæ, or Researches in Primeval History, was published in 1834. His object was to establish the theory of the fundamental tripartite division of the languages of mankind, from which have arisen all existing languages and dialects. Dean Milman described the work as 'the first attempt to reconstruct history on the principles of the young science of geology;' and for this