Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Peverell, Thomas
PEVERELL, THOMAS (d. 1419), bishop successively of Ossory, Llandaff, and Worcester, was a member of the Suffolk branch of the Peverell family. He was educated at Oxford, and became a Carmelite friar. In 1397 he was elected bishop of Ossory in Ireland, but was translated to Llandaff on 16 Nov. 1398 (Le Neve, Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ, ii. 248; Rymer, Fœdera, orig. ed. viii. 62, calls him bishop of Leighlin). On 23 Oct. 1399 he consented, with other magnates, to commit Richard II to safe and secret custody (Rot. Parl. iii. 426 b, 427 a). On 27 June 1406 he sealed the exemplification of the act settling the crown on the heirs male of the body of Henry IV (ib. iii. 576 a). His support was rewarded next year by his translation to the see of Worcester on 4 July 1407 (Le Neve, iii. 60). There he seems to have been active against the lollards. In 1409 he examined John Badby [q. v.], and, after convicting him of heresy in his opinions concerning transubstantiation, sent him to Thomas Arundel [q. v.], the archbishop of Canterbury. He lent considerable sums of money to Henry IV and Henry V. On 27 July 1412 Henry IV repaid him a loan of 400l. (Rymer, Fœdera, orig. ed. viii. 767), and in 1415 he lent Henry V 300l. (extracts from the Issue Roll of the Exchequer, Henry III to Henry VI, ed. Devon, pp. 402–3). He died on 1 March 1419. He was buried in the church of the Carmelites at Oxford, probably that of the house established near the north gates, outside the city wall, by Edward I (see Dugdale, Monasticon, vi. 1577; Le Neve, iii. 60). According to Bale he was a doctor of divinity, and the author of several theological works, none of which are known to be extant.
[Authorities cited in text; Ware's Hist. of the Bishops and Hist. and Antiquities of Ireland, ed. 1704, Diocese of Dublin, p. 32; Godwin, De Præsulibus Angliæ, ed. 1743, ii. 46, 189; Bale's Illust. Majoris Britanniæ Script. Summarium, ed. 1559, p. 542.]