Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Dowdall, George
DOWDALL, GEORGE (1487–1558), archbishop of Armagh, son of Edward Dowdall (or Dovedale) of Drogheda, co. Louth, was born there in 1487, and at an early age became noted for his gravity of character and learning. He was prior of the monastery or hospital of St. John of Ardee in his native county. Through the influence of Sir Anthony St. Leger, the lord deputy of Ireland, he was, in 1542, brought under the notice of Henry VIII, and having made a voluntary surrender of his priory, he received a promise of the archbishopric of Armagh, and a pension of 20/. sterling till the vacancy occurred, as appears from a letter addressed by the king to St. Leger (State Papers, vol. iii. pt. iii. p. 429). On the death of George Cromer [q. v.], whose official Dowdall had been, he was promoted to the see by privy seal on 29 April 1543 (Cod, Clar. 39). His zeal for the church of Rome was great and untiring, but nevertheless he was contented to receive his appointment from the king, and did not refuse, we must suppose, to take the oath of supremacy. Pope Paul III declining to sanction the appointment, and choosing Robert Waucop (or Venantius) to fill the office. In February 1550 Edward VI sent orders to Ireland for the public use of the liturgy in the English language, and the lord deputy convened the clergy for the settlement of the matter. Dowdall at once placed himself at the head of the Roman catholic party and strenuously opposed the king's command, while George Browne [q. v.], archbishop of Dublin, was equally zealous on the other side. After much dispute between the lord deputy and Dowdall, the liturgy was received and ordered to be read in all churches. Soon after this St. Leger was recalled, and Sir James Crofts, a gentleman of the king's privy chamber, having been selected for the government of Ireland, brought with him instructions for himself and the council, one of which was, 'To propagate the worship of God in the English tongue, and the service to be translated into Irish in those places which need it.' The new viceroy was sworn into office on 23 May, and wrote a letter to Dowdall, dated 10 June, inviting him to a conference with the other Irish prelates. The meeting was held the next day in the great hall of St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, where the primate was then residing. The particulars of the debate are recorded in a manuscript in the British Museum, and have been printed by Bishop Mant (History of the Church of Ireland, i. 207-11).
Dowdall in the following October was deprived of the rank and title of 'primate of all Ireland,' which were then conferred by letters patent upon Browne and his successors in the archbishopric of Dublin. It does not appear that he was formally deposed from his episcopal office, but 'his high stomach could not digest the affront.' He retired into banishment, and during the remainder of Edward's brief reign his time was quietly passed in the abbey of Centre in Brabant.
While Dowdall was absent from Ireland the archbishopric of Armagh was conferred, in February 1553, on Hugh Goodacre, who died three months later. Towards the close of the same year Dowdall was recalled by Queen Mary, and on 12 March following he was restored to the position of primate, which had been transferred from him to Archbishop Browne. He also received a grant in commendam, for his life, of the precincts of the dissolved monastery of Ardee, of which he had been prior before his promotion to Armagh. In April 1554, along with William Walsh, bishop-elect of Meath, and others, he was commissioned to deprive the married bishops and clergy. On 29 June, accordingly, they deprived Edward Staples, bishop of Meath, and soon after the archbishop, George Browne, Bishop Lancaster of Kildare, and Bishop Travers of Leighlin. In the same year Dowdall held a provincial synod in St. Peter's Church, Drogheda, the constitutions of which tend chiefly to the restoration of the Roman catholic religion and the deprivation of the married clergy. In 1555 he caused a day of jubilee to be observed throughout Ireland for the restoration of the supremacy of the church of Rome. And in the succeeding year he held a second provincial synod at Drogheda, but little more was done at it than to allow husbandmen and labourers to work on certain festivals. In this year he was appointed a member of the Irish privy council. In 1558 he left home for England on ecclesiastical business, and on 15 Aug. he died in London.
Dowdall appears during his sojourn in Brabant to have employed himself in study. He left behind him several sermons, and an English version (from the Latin) of 'The Life of John de Courcy, Conqueror of Ulster.' In the Lambeth Library (MS. 623) there is likewise a translation made by him in 1551 'out of an old manuscript belonging to O'Neill at Armagh,' of several details which had been omitted by Giraldus Cambrensis in his ' History of Ireland.'
[Sir James Ware's Works (Harris's ed.), i. 91 ; Mant's Hist, of Church of Ireland, vol. i.; King's Church Hist, of Ireland, vol. i.; Cotton's Fasti Eccles. Hibern. iii. 18, v. 196; Cal. of Carew MSS. 1515-74; Hamilton's Cal. of State Papers (Ireland), 1509-73 ; Bagwell's Ireland under the Tudors, vol. i. ; D'Alton's Hist, of Drogheda, i. 19 ; Stuart's Hist, of Armagh.]