John Feckenham - Under Elizabeth I

Under Elizabeth I

On her accession in late 1558, Queen Elizabeth sent for Feckenham and is said to have offered him the archbishopric of Canterbury. It was also recorded that the queen offered to let the abbot and his monks stay at Westminster if they conformed to the Church of England. Feckenham sat in Elizabeth's first parliament, and was the last mitred abbot to do so. He consistently opposed all the legislation for changes in religion, and he refused the Oath of Supremacy. The abbey was dissolved again on 12 July 1560, and within a year Feckenham was sent by Archbishop Matthew Parker to the Tower (20 May 1560), according to Jewel, "for having obstinately refused attendance on public worship and everywhere declaiming and railing against that religion which we now profess."

Except for some brief periods when he was a prisoner at large, Feckenham spent the rest of his life in confinement either in some recognized prison, or in the keeping of the Bishops of Winchester and Ely. After fourteen years' confinement, he was released on bail and lived in Holborn, where his benevolence was shown by all manner of works of charity. "He relieved the poor wheresoever he came, so that flies flock not thicker to spilt honey than beggars constantly crowd about him". He set up a public aqueduct in Holborn, and a hospice for the poor at Bath; he distributed every day to the sick the milk of twelve cows, took care of orphans, and encouraged sports on Sundays among the youth of London by giving prizes.

In 1577 he was committed to the care of Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely with strict instructions as to his treatment. Cox could find no fault with him except that "he was a gentle person but in the popish religion too, too obstinate." In 1580 he was moved to Wisbech Castle, and there exercised a good influence among his fellow-prisoners; this was remembered when, in later years, the Wisbech Stirs broke out. Here, at his own cost, he repaired the road and set up a market cross in the town. Twenty-four years after the death of Queen Mary, he died in prison and was buried in an unknown grave in the parish church at Wisbech on 10 October 1584.