Michael Honywood (1596 - abt. 1681)

Born 1 Oct 1596 in London, England

Ancestors

Died about 7 Sep 1681 at about age 84 in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England

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Biography

Michael Honywood was the sixth son born to Robert Honeywood and his second wife Elizabeth Browne. ^{[1] [2]} He was born 1 October 1597 in London. ^{[3] [4]}

Christ's College Cambridge

Michael Honywood's career diverged significantly from those of his brothers. He matriculated from Christ's College in 1611 at age 14, along with his older brotherHenry. While over half of his brothers attended university, Michael became a scholar, taking the degrees BA (1614/5), MA (1618) and BD (1638). He entered the church - ordained deacon December 1618 and priest the following February. ^{[4] [5]}

Michael Honywood was devoted to Christ's College. He was a Fellow 1618 to 1643, and served it as Taxor (1623) and Proctor (1628). He retained his Fellowship even after his appointment as rector of the rich Leicestershire parish of Kegworth in 1639. He lent the college a substantial sum and led the fundraising for the construction of a new Fellows Building in 1640. ^[5] He was at that time a protege of the Master of the College,"learned Neutrall" ^[6] Thomas Bainbridge (Bainbrigg), who hoped that Honywood would succeed him in that post. ^[7]

Civil War

The civil war was in large part a religious conflict, between puritans and their opponents, who then followed the leadership of William Laud; this conflict was roiling Cambridge in the preceding decade of the 1630s, during Honywood's residency. Again, he differed in policy from many of his brothers, for he was a royalist and a Laudian, in which positions he did not greatly differ from the consensus of the scholars in his college. "It was not devotedly loyal - it sent neither money nor plate to (King) Charles in 1642; neither was it distinctively Puritan; among the Fellows the balance inclined to the Royalist side." ^[8]

Michael Honywood appears to have been prescient, for before Parliament could pass the 1644 "Ordinance for Regulating the University of Cambridge, and for removing of Scandalous Ministers in the seven Associated Counties", ^[9] he had departed for the Low Countries, where he spent much time collecting rare books at Utrecht. Bainbridge was allowed to remain in office at Christ's, but Honywood's goods and books left in the college were confiscated (to be ransomed by his brother Henry) and his living at Kegworth sequestered.^{[7] [5]}

Restoration

With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, things in England returned as far as possible to what they had been before the war, but at his return, Michael Honywood found his influence in Cambridge was diminished with the death of Bainbridge. A petition to install him as Master of Christ's was rejected by the Fellows. King Charles II ordered the college to grant him the degree Doctor of Divinity and restored his rectory of Kegworth (as the livings of sequestered ministers were in general restored). But most importantly, Michael Honywood was named on 12 October 1660 as Dean of the Cathedral Church at Lincoln. ^[7]

It was in this position that Michael Honywood occupied the final two decades of his life. "Honywood as dean set vigorously to work to repair the damage done to Lincoln Cathedral and its precincts during the reign of the puritans, and to re-establish the long-suspended choral service, aiding both liberally from his own purse." ^[7] His greatest accomplishment there was the design (by Sir Christopher Wren) and construction of a library - now known as the Wren Library - that he donated to the Cathedral, as well as his own collection of books. ^[10]

It is also noteworthy that, following the war, the Honywood brothers kept up a fraternal amity, even when they had taken opposite sides in the conflict. "The Dean, Colonel Henry and Mister Peter Honywood", as well as the Cromwellian Sir Thomas, shared lodgings in the house of Samuel Pepys' brother, and at one point he had the first-named three to dinner, where he found them "pitiful sorry gentlemen, though good-natured." ^[11] Others called him 'a holy and humble man, and a living library for learning.' ^[7]

Dean Michael Honywood died at the advanced age of 85. His Will ^[12] was proved 24 September 1681, leaving contributions to religous, educational and charitable institutions.

He was buried in the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, to which he had given so much. ^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ THE POSTERITY OF MARY HONYWOOD, pg 397
2. ↑ The Visitations of Essex 1552-1636. Part I. Publications of the Harleian Society. Vol XIII. Edited by Walter C Metcalfe. 1878. Honywood Pedigree pp 423-425 archive.org
3. ↑ The Topographer and Genealogist, Volume 2: 1853. p. 169. Evidences
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Venn, John A. Alumni Cantabrigienses, vol 2, p. 402. Cambridge University Press. Honywood
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Peile and Venn. Biographical Register of Christ's College, p. 283. Cambridge University Press, 1910. 1611
6. ↑ Peile, p. 131.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 27: Honywood, Michael by Edmund Venables Michael Honywood
8. ↑ Peile, John. Christ's College, vol 7, p. 160. FE Robinson & Co, 1900. Christ's
9. ↑ "January 1644: An Ordinance for Regulating the University of Cambridge, and for removing of Scandalous Ministers in the seven Associated Counties." Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660. Eds. C H Firth, and R S Rait. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1911. 371-372. British History Online. Web. 20 September 2021.January 1644
10. ↑ Lincoln Cathedral - The Libraries. The Wren Library
11. ↑ Pepys, Samuel. Diary. Vol. III, p. 9. 9 January 1662. Latham & Matthews, eds. University of California Press: 2000. 9 January 1662
12. ↑ PROB 11/367/471 TNA
13. ↑ https://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/cemetery.php?cemetery=2723&scrwidth=1258 monument] Note: date transcribed incorrectly.