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Wednesday, October 21, 2015

There Were Giants in Those Days



And by giants, I mean Lancelot Blackburne, who was Archbishop of York after a spell in the West Indies as a buccaneer, or pirate.

Blackburne wasn't noted for good behavior. According to Brewer's Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics "[his] behaviour was seldom of a standard to be expected of an archbishop. In many respects his behaviour was seldom of a standard to be expected of a pirate."

He kept apartments on Downing Street.

LSP
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5 comments:

  1. LLOctober 21, 2015 at 9:53 PM

    The more things change, the more they remain the same?

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  2. LLOctober 22, 2015 at 5:11 AM

    The fashion statement that the vicar is making is back in style, but only in Austin.

    ReplyDelete
  3. LSPOctober 22, 2015 at 6:22 AM

    He was a wicked old thing. Apparently his wife wasn't too happy when he moved his mistress into the house...

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  4. LLOctober 22, 2015 at 9:28 AM

    I'm sure that he introduced the mistress to the neighbors as his "niece" who had come to visit.

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  5. LSPOctober 22, 2015 at 12:20 PM

    Hardly the CofE's high spiritual watermark... but he was an interesting man, nonetheless. It seems as though he was a spy/pirate in the reign of Charles II.

    Of course there's no shortage of "pirates" in the CofE today, it's just that their mistresses aren't women.

    ReplyDelete