Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 54.djvu/109

 William Stapleton, steward to the bishop of Winchester, and a member of the Carlton family of Stapleton (, Stapeltons of Yorkshire, 1897, p. 161). Thomas acquired the rudiments of grammar in the free school at Canterbury under John Twyne [q. v.] In 1550 he was admitted a scholar at Winchester, where the entry in the register states that he was then twelve years of age and that he was a native of, or a resident at, Oving, Sussex (, Winchester Scholars, p. 129). He was elected to a fellowship at New College, Oxford, 18 Jan. 1552–3, and graduated B.A. on 2 Dec. 1556 (Oxford Univ. Register, i. 233). Shortly before the death of Queen Mary he was collated by Bishop Christopherson to the prebend of Woodhorne in Chichester Cathedral. Being attached to the ancient form of religion, he left the country soon after Queen Elizabeth's accession, and settled at Louvain, where he applied himself to the study of theology. Subsequently he proceeded to the university of Paris in order to complete his knowledge of the sacred tongues, and then ‘for devotion sake’ paid a visit to Rome. On his return to Louvain he found letters from his father desiring his immediate attendance in England. He complied with the request, and was required by his diocesan Bishop Barlow to abjure the authority of the pope, and to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the queen. In consequence of his refusal he was deprived of his prebend early in 1563, and he again retired to Louvain, taking with him his father and some other members of his family (Records of the English Catholics, i. 306;, Rape of Bramber, p. 275).

In 1569 William (afterwards Cardinal) Allen [q. v.] invited him to the newly founded English College in the university of Douay, where he rendered signal service both as a teacher and a benefactor; he was appointed lecturer in divinity at Anchin College with a considerable salary. One of his pupils at Douay was John Pits [q. v.] When the university of Douay became aware of his extraordinary qualifications, he was unanimously chosen public professor of divinity, and he and Allen completed the degree of D.D. on 10 July 1571. He also obtained a canonry in the collegiate church of St. Amatus at Douay. In consequence of the political disturbances in Belgium, Stapleton, Gregory Martin [q. v.], and Dr. Richard White [q. v.] proceeded to Rome on 9 Nov. 1576. Stapleton returned to the college on 14 June 1577.

Having resolved to join a religious order, he resigned his canonry and professorship, and entered the Society of Jesus in the Belgian province in 1584, but he left the novitiate before pronouncing the vows (, Hist. Prov. Anglicanæ Soc. Jesu, p. 29). Dodd says it was by Allen's persuasion that he forsook the noviceship, but the ‘Douay Diary’ and Stapleton's metrical autobiography concur in stating that ill-health was the cause of his not continuing in it (, Specimen of Amendments to Dodd's Church Hist. pp. 119–22;, Apology for the Church Hist. p. 129). Stapleton now returned to his canonry of St. Amatus, which he retained until 1590. Philip II, by letters patent dated 13 July 1590, conferred upon him the chair of holy scripture at Louvain, vacant by the death of Michael Baius, together with the canonry of St. Peter, which was annexed to the professorship. Shortly afterwards the king presented him to the deanery of Hilverenbeeck, in the diocese of Bois-le-Duc. The latter benefice was worth a thousand florins a year, and that sum, added to what he already possessed, and to the fees which he obtained as a private tutor to youths of good family, enabled him to render pecuniary assistance to his exiled fellow-countrymen (, Hist. Littéraire des Pays-Bas, ii. 526).

Stapleton's fame as a controversialist had spread all over Europe, and Pope Clement VIII esteemed his writings so highly that he ordered portions of them to be read publicly at his table. In 1596 the pontiff twice invited him to Rome: first, with an offer of residence in the household of Cardinal Aldobrandino, the pope's nephew; and the second time with the promise of a chair in the Sapienza. Stapleton declined both invitations; but in January 1596–7 he accepted from his holiness a third offer of an appointment as prothonotary apostolic. His friends believed that he would be created a cardinal. Father Agazzari, rector of the English College at Rome, was alarmed at the prospect of Stapleton's promotion to the purple, and suggested on 25 Sept. 1596 to Parsons, who was at Madrid, the promotion of an ecclesiastic of whose fidelity to the crown of Spain there could be no doubt. Stapleton wrote from Louvain to Parsons at Madrid in 1597 that he was, and sincerely intended to remain, a true and trusty servant to the king of Spain ‘though I hap to live, and perhaps to continue, in the court of Rome.’ Stapleton intended to set out for Rome in August 1597, but, either from illness or some other cause, remained at Louvain. Dr. Humphrey Ely implies that there was some other reason, for he writes: