CONSTANTINE, GEORGE (c. 1500 - 1560?), cleric

Born, on his own evidence (P.R.O., E321/39/24), about 1500, Constantine was educated at the University of Cambridge where he graduated B.Can.L. in 1524. He adopted the reforming doctrines and fled to Antwerp, where he assisted Tyndale and Joye in translating the New Testament and compiling books against the Roman church. He also lived in Paris for a time, and made his house there a centre for the dissemination of Lutheran literature (L. & P., iv, 4396). During these years he was active in smuggling contraband literature into England. He was arrested by Sir Thomas More for this activity in 1531 and, under pressure, informed on some of his confederates. He escaped early in December 1531 and fled again to Antwerp. Returning to London after More's death he entered the service of Sir Henry Norris, who was executed with Anne Boleyn.

Constantine was brought to S. Davids diocese by bishop Barlow, who made him vicar of Llawhaden. Following some unguarded remarks to John Barlow in 1539, Constantine was denounced to Cromwell as a 'sacramentary' and was lodged in the Tower. He regained favour, however, and became registrar of S. Davids in 1546, royal visitor of the diocese in 1547, archdeacon of Carmarthen in 1549, and prebendary of Llangamarch. Anticipating official policy, he had the high altar at S. Peter's, Carmarthen, pulled down and replaced by a table, thereby occasioning much consternation. Though an ardent Protestant and registrar of the diocese, he played a leading part in the opposition to bishop Ferrar, at whose trial he sat as a judge with bishop Henry Morgan. Later in Mary's reign, however, he was deprived of his registrarship and his livings. In the summer of 1559 Elizabeth appointed him one of the visitors for the western circuit of dioceses, and in November 1559 he became archdeacon of Brecon. Since his successor there was instituted on 3 February 1561, Constantine would seem to have died late in 1560 or early in 1561. He was married and had one daughter, who became the wife of Thomas Young.

Author

• Sir Glanmor Williams

Sources

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and references given there
• T. Amyot, 'Transcript of an original manuscript, containing a memorial from George Constantyne to Thomas, Lord Cromwell, Archaeologia (1831), xxiii, 50-78
• Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, xiv, 45-54, 125-38, xv, 212-24; xvi, 38-48
• Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, especially vols. iv, 4030, 4396, 4693, v, 532, 574, ix, 226, x, 222, xiv (ii), 400
• J. F. MozleyWilliam Tyndale. A Biography (London 1937), 205-9
• Sir Thomas More, Apology in More's English Works (1557)
• The National Library of Wales Journal, v, 186
• A. Ogle, The tragedy of the Lollard's Tower I. The case of Richard Hunne, with its aftermath in II. The Reformation Parliament, 1529-33 a review of events from the downfall of Wiolsley to the birth of Elizabeth (Oxford 1949), 282-4, 290
• Journal of the Historical Society of the Church in Wales, ii, 61-71
• E. Yardley, Menevia Sacra. Arch. Camb. (1927), 210

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: George Constantine

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q5538093

Published date: 1959

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