Abbot John Chambers - Peterborough Cathedral

walwyn Sun, 10/09/2011 - 19:10
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John Chambers tudor effigy

 

Effigy of John Chambers (d1556) last abbot and first bishop of Peterborough. Described in the 17th century as being exquisitely carved, with a mitre and robe, and feet resting on a lion, this effigy was mutilated during the English Civil War.

 

He was appointed abbot of Peterborough in 1528, and in 1530 was one of the English prelate signatories that wrote to Pope Clement VIIin support of Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. In 1534 he, along with 41 other monks, repudiated papal authority and acknowledged Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England, and in 1536 he was in attendance when Catherine of Aragon was burieds in the abbey church.

 

When the abbey was dissolved in 1539 he was granted a pension of £266 a year, and then in 1541 the former abbey was converted to a cathedral with John Chamber's as the first bishop.