GOODMAN
,
GABRIEL
(
1528
-
1601
),
dean of Westminster and founder of Christ's Hospital, Ruthin
;
b.
1528
, second son of
Edward
Goodman
(d.
1560
) of
Ruthin
. He was educated at
Cambridge
(
B.A.
1550
,
M.A.
1553
,
D.D.
1564
); was
Fellow
of
Christ's College
,
1552-4
, and of
Jesus College
,
c.
1554-5
. About
1555
he entered the service of
William
Cecil
, later
lord Burghley
, as
chaplain
. A sympathizer with the religious settlement of
Edward
VI
, he compromised under
Mary
and fully accepted the
Elizabethan church settlement
, disliking equally
Catholics
and
Puritans
. He was
rector
of
South
Luffenham
,
Rutland
,
1558
;
rector
of
Waddesdon, Bucks.
,
1559-82
;
prebendary of S. Pauls
,
1559
;
prebendary of Westminster
,
1560
;
dean of Westminster
,
1561-1601
. He served frequently as
member of the court of high commission
. In
1575
he assisted in the condemnation of
Peters
and
Turnwort
,
Dutch anabaptists
who were burnt at
Smithfield
that year. He never reached the episcopal bench, though he was considered for
London
(
1570
),
Norwich
(
1575
),
Rochester
(
1581
),
Worcester
,
Rochester
and
Chichester
(
1584
), and
Chester
(
1596
). His failure was probably due to his opposition to
Leicester
, his prominence on the
court of high commission
, and his reputation as ‘a grave, solid man, yet … peradventure too severe’ (
Strype
,
Parker
, ii, 6,
1570
). He was
one of the commissioners appointed to reform abuses in the hospital
of the
Savoy
,
1589
, a
member of the royal commission
for the settlement of
Jesus College
,
Oxford
,
1589
, and was concerned in the foundation of
Sidney Sussex College
,
Cambridge
,
1598
. He was one of the
executors
of
Burghley
's will.
His influence with the
Cecils
made him an important link between
Wales
and the
Court
. He assisted in the production of
bishop
William
Morgan
's
Bible
(
1588
) and he was responsible for the
translation
of
1 Corinthians
in the
Bishops’ Bible
of
1568
. In
1590
he founded
Christ's Hospital
,
Ruthin
(
president
,
warden
, and twelve poor inmates) and endowed it with the tithes of
Ruthin
and
Llan-rhydd
which he purchased from the lay impropriators into whose hands they had fallen after the dissolution of the collegiate church of
S. Peter
. In
1595
he added a grammar-school to the foundation. In
1600
he brought to the notice of
Sir
Robert
Cecil
a petition from the inhabitants of
Ruthin
complaining of their burden of taxation; and he was active a few months before his death in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a new charter for the borough. He d.
17 June 1601
and was buried in
Westminster Abbey
.
Bibliography:
-
;
-
Strype
,
;
-
Venn
,
;
-
,
, vi, 345, x, 99, xi, 5;
-
,
1599-1600
, 256;
-
R. Newcome
,
;
-
Thomas
,
;
-
, cxliv, 125-45 and cxlv, 12-30.
Author:
