Martin Heton

Martin Heton (Heaton) (1554–1609) was an English bishop.

Life

Alabaster effigy of Martin Heton

His father George Heton was prominent in the London commercial world and as a church reformer.^[1][2][3] His mother Joanna was daughter of Martin Bowes, Lord Mayor of London in 1545.^[4] He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford.^[5]

He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1588.^[6] He became Dean of Winchester in 1589, and Bishop of Ely in 1599.^[5] There is a story that Elizabeth I applied pressure to him, or his predecessor Richard Cox, over some land deals disadvantageous to the diocese, in a letter beginning “Proud prelate!”^[7] But scholars from the nineteenth century onwards, for example Mandell Creighton, have considered the letter in question a hoax of the eighteenth century.^[8]

A fat man, Heton was supposedly complimented by the king James I with the comment "Fat men are apt to make lean sermons; but yours are not lean, but larded with good learning."^[9]

Family

His daughter Ann married Sir Robert Filmer.^[10]

Notes

1. ^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=64544
2. ^ http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/johnfoxe/apparatus/usheressay.html
3. ^ ODNB entries for George Heton and his brother Thomas Heton.
4. ^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=52991#n26
5. ^ ^{a b} Concise Dictionary of National Biography
6. ^ http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/oxford_people/key_university_officers/vcs_of_oxford.html
7. ^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45119
8. ^ s: The English Church in the Reign of Elizabeth
9. ^ Remains, historical & literary, connected with the palatine counties of Lancaster and Chester (1844-86), online text.
10. ^ David Miller (editor), The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought (1991), p. 155.

Church of England titles
Preceded by Richard Cox vacancy from 1581	Bishop of Ely 1599–1609	Succeeded by Lancelot Andrewes

Persondata
Name	Heton, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1554
Place of birth
Date of death	1609
Place of death