Lawrence Booth

For other people named Lawrence Booth, see Lawrence Booth (disambiguation).

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Lawrence Booth
Archbishop of York and Primate of England
Appointed	1 September 1476
Term ended	19 May 1480
Predecessor	George Neville
Successor	Thomas Rotherham
Other post(s)	Lord Chancellor and Keeper of the Great Seal
Previous post(s)	Prince-Bishop of Durham Dean of St Paul's
Orders
Ordination	1441
Consecration	25 September 1457
Personal details
Born	c. 1420 Barton, Lancashire, England
Died	19 May 1480 (aged 60) Cawood Castle, Yorkshire
Buried	Southwell Minster
Denomination	Catholic
Alma mater	Pembroke Hall, Cambridge
Coat of arms

Lawrence Booth (c. 1420 – 1480) served as bishop of Durham and lord chancellor of England, before being appointed archbishop of York.

Life

The illegitimate son of John Booth, lord of the manor of Barton, near Eccles, Lancashire, he was half-brother of Sir Robert Booth of Dunham Massey, Cheshire.

Booth read civil and canon law at Cambridge, graduating as licentiate (Lic.C.L.), before receiving a Doctor of Divinity (D.D.). He was elected Master of Pembroke Hall in 1450, a post he held until his death, and also served as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Whilst at Cambridge, where he started a movement for both a School of Arts and a School of Civil Law, he is believed to have produced his first miracle, but cause for his beatification or canonization is yet to be introduced.

Outside Cambridge, Booth's career was helped by his half-brother William Booth, who was Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield (1447–1452) and Archbishop of York (1452–1464). In 1449, he was appointed a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral and, on 2 November 1456, became Dean of St Paul's. He was also a prebendary of York Minster and of Lichfield Cathedral. From 1454 to 1457 he was Archdeacon of Richmond.

Booth's influence was not confined to the Church; he was also active in government. He was chancellor to Margaret of Anjou and, in about 1456, he became Keeper of the Privy Seal, and in that same year on 28 January he was also appointed one of the tutors and guardians of the Prince of Wales. He was Lord Privy Seal until 1460. In 1457 he also served briefly as Provost of Beverley Minster.

On 25 September 1457, Booth was installed as Prince-Bishop of Durham.

Although from a Lancastrian family, he cultivated relations with the Yorkists and, after the fall of Henry VI, Booth adapted himself to the new status quo. He submitted himself to King Edward (the former Earl of March) in April 1461, and by the end of June, Booth defeated a raid led by the Lords de Ros, Dacre and Rugemont-Grey who brought Henry VI over the border to try to raise a rebellion in the north of England. King Edward named him his confessor. Although he temporarily lost control of the palatinate of Durham, he was restored in 1464, after making a submission to Edward IV; he was successful in part by being a prelate who was never imprisoned in that era. He resumed activity in Edward's government thereafter being appointed, on 27 July 1473, Lord Chancellor, serving until May 1474. In October 1473 he led a delegation to Scotland to formally sign the marriage treaty between the newborn son (later James IV of Scotland) of James III and Edward's third daughter Cecily.

In 1476 Booth was translated to the see of York, previously held by his half-brother. He was the only prelate after King Edward IV's accession ever promoted to higher office.

Booth served as Archbishop of York until his death on 19 May 1480, and is buried beside William Booth, in the Collegiate Church of Southwell, which they both generously endowed.

See also

• Booth baronets – Baronetcy in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
• York Minster – Grade I listed cathedral in England

References

• Davies, Richard G. (1995). "The Church and the Wars of the Roses". In Pollard, A. J. (ed.). The Wars of the Roses. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-12697-2.
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
• Horn, Joyce M. (1963). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: volume 5: St Paul's, London: Deans of St Paul's. Institute of Historical Research.
• Jones, B. (1963). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: Volume 6: Northern province (York, Carlisle and Durham): Archdeacons: Richmond. Institute of Historical Research.
• Jones, B. (1963). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: Volume 6: Northern province (York, Carlisle and Durham): Prebendaries: Wistow. Institute of Historical Research.
• Jones, B. (1964). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: Volume 10: Coventry and Lichfield diocese: Prebendaries: Gaia Major. Institute of Historical Research.
• Jones, B. (1964). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: Volume 10: Coventry and Lichfield diocese: Prebendaries: Offley. Institute of Historical Research.
• Pollard, A. J. (2004). "Booth, Laurence (c.1420–1480)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (January 2008 ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/2888. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
• Ross, Charles (1974). Edward IV. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-02781-7.
• Seward, Desmond (1995). The Wars of the Roses: Through the Lives of Five Men and Women of the Fifteenth Century. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-84258-3.