FLEMING
101
FLETCHER
Fleming also wrote a life of Hugh MacCaghwell (q. v.),
Primate of Armagh, a chronicle of St. Peter's monas-
tery at Ratisbon (an ancient Irish foundation), and
letters to Hugh Ward on the lives and works of the
Irish saints. The letters have been published in " The
Irish Ecclesiastical Record" (see below). The work
published at Louvain in 1(567 is now rare and costly;
one copy in recent years was sold for seventy pounds.
Ware-Harris, Writers of Ireland (Ehlblin, 1764); Ulster Journal of Architology, 11; The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, VII; Cooper in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v.
E. A. D'Alton.
Fleming (Flemming, Flemmynge), Richard, Bishop of Lincoln and founder of Lincoln College, Ox- ford; b. of a good Yorkshire family about 1360, Cros- ton being sometimes mentioned, though without clear authority, as his birthplace; d. at Sleaford, 25 Jan., 1431. He studied at University College, Oxford, and became junior proctor in 1407. In 1409 he was chosen by convocation as one of the twelve commissioners ap- pointed to examine the writings of Wyclif, though at this time he was suspected of sympathy with the new movement and is mentioned by name in a mandate which Archbishop Arundel addressed to the chancellor in 1409 in order to suppress this tendency in the univer- sity. If the archbishop's description is correct the date usually assigned for Fleming's birth must be far too early, for a man close on fifty could not be mentioned as one of a company of beardless boys who had scarcely put away the playthings of youth (Wilkins, Cone. Magn. Brit., Ill, 322). If he ever had any sympathy with Wyclif it did not extend to Wyclif's heretical doctrines, for his own orthodoxy was beyond suspicion and it subsequently became his duty as bishop to burn the exhumed body of Wyclif in 142S. He held suc- cessively the prebends of South Newbald (22 Aug., 1406) and Langtoft (21 Aug., 1415), both in York Diocese, and subsequently was rector of Boston. He became bachelor in divinity some time before 1413. Finally he was elected Bishop of Lincoln, 20 Nov., 1419, in succession to Philip Repyngdon, and was con- secrated at Florence, 28 April, 1420. In 1422 he was in Germany at the head of an embassy, and in June, 1423, he acted as president of the English represen- tatives at the Council of Pavia, which was transferred to Siena and finally developed into the Council of Basle. More than once he preached before the council, but as he supported the rights of the pope against the assembled Fathers his views were disapproved of. The pope, however, showed him favour by appointing him as his chamberlain and naming him Archbishop of York in 1424. Difficulties, however, arose with the king's ministers, and the appointment was set aside. On returning to Lincoln, the bishop began the founda- tion of Lincoln College, which he intended to be a collegiolum of theologians connected with the three parish churches of St. Mildred, St. Michael, and All- hallows, Oxford. The preface which he wrote to the statutes is printed in the " Statutes of Lincoln College" (Oxford, 1853). He proved a vigorous administrator of his diocese, and added to his cathedral a chantry in which he was subsequently buried. One work now lost, " Super Angliae Etymologia", is attributed to him by Bale.
Fabricius, Bibliotheca Medicc ^^tatis (1746); Tanner, Bibl. Brit.-Hih. (London, 1748); Wood, Hist, and Antiq. of the Uni- versity of Oxford (Oxford, 1786), I, 551; Biog. Univ. (Paris, 1816). XV; Statutes of Lincoln College. Oxford (Oxford, 1853); Le Neve. Fasti Ecclesim Anglicanm, ed. Hardy (Oxford. 1854), III, 205; Stubbs, Rcqistrum Sacrum Anglicanum (Oxford, 1858), 65; Munimenta Academiea Oxon. in R. S. (1868). I, XIV; Hist. MSS. Comm. (London, 1871), 2d Report, 131; Poole in Did. Nat. Biog., s. v.
Edwin Burton.
Fleming, Thomas, Archbishop of Dublin, son of the Baron of Slane, b. in 1593; d. in 1655. He studied at the Franciscan College of Louvain, became a priest of the Franciscan Order, and after finishing his studies
continued at Louvain for a number of years as pro-
fessor. In (Jctober, 1623, he was appointed by Urban
VIII to Dublin as successor of Archbishop Matthews.
His appointment gave great offence to the opponents
of the religious orders, and a bitter onslaught was be-
gun against the new archbishop by the priest Paul
Harris, in his " Olf actorium " and other brochures.
Archbishop Fleming convened and presided at a pro-
vincial synod of the province of Dublin in 1640. When
the Confederate War broke out (1641-1642) the arch-
bishop, though rather a man of peace, felt constrained
to take sides with the Confederates and despatched a
procurator to represent him at the .synod of the clergy
held in Kilkenny (May, 1642). Later on, when the
general assembly was convoked at Kilkenny for Oc-
tober, the archbishop resolved to attend personally
and take part in the deliberations. As might be ex-
pected from his antecedents, and especially from his
connexion with the Anglo-Irish nobility of the Pale,
he was opposed to the "thorough" policy of the Old
Irish, and wished for peace at all costs. In 1643 he was
one of the prelates who signed the commission em-
powering representatives of the Confederates to treat
with Ormond for a cessation of hostilities. He also
opposed Scarampa and Rinuccini, the latter of whom
was strongly identified with the Old-Irish party. In
1649, when all was lost, and the defeated Irish were
confronted with Cromwell, a reconciliation was ef-
fected with Ormond at a synod of bishops, a step
which Archbishop Fleming favoured. But even then
King Charles could not recognize his real friends, and
the alliance was broken off. The remainder of the
archbishop's life was much disturbed by religious per-
secution carried on by the government of Cromwell.
He died in 1655, and the severity of the persecution
may be judged from the fact that until 1669 no suc-
cessor could be appointed. The diocese was admin-
istered by vicars until the nomination of Peter Talbot
in 1669.
MoRAN, History of the Catholic Archbishops of Dublin (Dub- lin, 1864): D'Alton. Archbishops of Dublin (Dublin, 1838); MoRAN. Spicilegium Ossoriense (Dublin, 1874); De Buruo. Ht- bemia Dominicana (Kilkenny, 1762); Gilbert, History of Irish Confederation (Dublin, 1882, 1891).
Jaiies MacCaffhey.
Fletcher, John, missionary and theologian, b. at Ormskirk, England, of an old Catholic family; edu- cated at Douai and afterwards at St. Gregory's, Paris; d. about 1848. After ordination to the priesthood he became a professor at the College at St-Omer, of which his great-uncle. Rev. William Wilkinson, had been president. When the French Revolution broke out he was taken prisoner with the other collegians and spent many months in captivity at Arras and Dourlens. After they were released in 1795 he re- turned to England and acted as priest first at Hexham, then at Blackburn, and finally at Weston LTnderwood (1827), the seat of the Throckmortons. Having acted for a time as chaplain to the dowager Lady Throck- morton he took charge of Leamington Mission (1839- 1844). He removed thence to Northampton in 1844 and resigned, owing to his great age, in 1848, after which his name does not appear in the "Catholic Directory", though his death is not therein recorded. Dr. Fletcher's works are: "Sermons on various Relig- ious and Moral Subjects for all the Sundays after Pen- tecost" (2 vols., 1812, 1821); the introduction is "An Essay on the Spirit of Controversy", also publi-shed separately; "The Catholic's Manual", translated from Bossuet with a commentary and notes (1817, 1829); "Thoughts on the Rights and Prerogatives of Church and .^tiite, with some observations upon the question of Catholic Securities" (1823); "A Comparative View of the Grounds of the C'atholic and Protestant Churches" (1826); "The ('atholic's Prayerbook", compiled from a MS. drawn up in 1813 by Rev. Joseph Berington (q. v.); "The Prudent Christian; or Con-
