George Chamberlain (bishop)

George Chamberlain or Chamberlayne (1576–1634) was an Englishman who became the sixth bishop of Ypres.[1]

George Chamberlain
A print dedicated to George Chamberlain: Paulus Pontius, St Sebastian, after Gerard Seghers (c. 1630)
Diocese	Ypres
See	St Martin's
Appointed	1626
In office	1626–1634
Predecessor	Antoine de Hennin
Successor	Cornelius Jansen
Orders
Ordination	1600
Consecration	5 November 1628
Personal details
Born	1576 Ghent, County of Flanders, Habsburg Netherlands
Died	1634 Ypres, County of Flanders, Spanish Netherlands
Buried	St Martin's Cathedral, Ypres
Parents	George Chamberlain and Philippine L'Espinoy
Previous post	Dean of St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent
Education	canon law
Motto	In solitudine solatium ("Solace in solitude")

Life

Chamberlain was the second son of George Chamberlain and Philippine L'Espinoy, and grandson of Sir Leonard Chamberlain.[2] He was born at Ghent, and grew up in Saint-Omer, where his father, a Catholic exile from England, had settled. He studied at the English College, Rome, and was ordained priest in the Lateran Basilica.[3]

He returned to the Low Countries to serve in the household of the papal nuncio, Ottavio Mirto Frangipani, and went on to become canon, archdeacon, and dean of St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent. After the death of Antoine de Hennin in December 1626, was appointed to the bishopric of Ypres. Around that period members of his English family resided at Shirburn in Oxfordshire. The estates having fallen to an heiress, Chamberlain, the next heir male, came to England, not so much to put up his claim as to resign it, in order to confirm the title of the heiress to Shirburn Castle. He was consecrated bishop of Ypres only on 5 November 1628.[4] On 16 June 1630 he assisted at the consecration of Servaas de Quinckere as bishop of Bruges.[5]

As bishop he sat in the States of Flanders as a representative of the First Estate, and in the Estates General of 1632. He died in Ypres on 19 December 1634. He composed some poems and religious pieces in Latin.[2][3]

Notes

1. "One of the most distinguished bishops of the Catholic church in Belgium in the 17th century was without doubt the Englishman, George Chamberlain, who occupied the see of Ypres from 1627 to 1634, the year of his death", L. Antheunis, "The Right Rev. George Chamberlain, Bishop of Ypres (1576-1634)", Biographical Studies 2/1 (1953), p. 84.
2. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Chamberlain, George" . Dictionary of National Biography. 10. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
3. Arblaster, Paul. "Chamberlain, George". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/5045. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
4. J. J. De Smet, "Chamberlain (Georges)", Biographie Nationale de Belgique, vol. 3 (Brussels, 1872), 409-410.
5. W. H. James Weale, Tableaux de l'ancienne école néerlandaise exposés à Bruges, exhibition catalogue (Bruges, 1867), p. 161.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1887). "Chamberlain, George". Dictionary of National Biography. 10. London: Smith, Elder & Co.