MISCELLANY

A miscellany of two unrelated documents: ff. 1-2. A copy of the commission from William Sancroft (1617-1693), the deprived Archishop of Canterbury, delegating his archiepiscopal powers to William Lloyd (1637-1710), the deprived Bishop of Norwich. 9 February 1691/2. In Latin. In this document Sancroft appointed Lloyd as 'Vicarium meum ... actorem, factorem et nuntium generalem'. In consequence Lloyd succeeded as leader of the non-jurors on Sancroft's death in 1693, and was empowered to consecrate the first new non-juror bishops in 1694. Endorsed: 'Archbishop Sancroft's commission to Bishop Lloyd for consecrating new bishops, Feb. 9 1691'. Also endorsed: 'This is a true copy transcrib'd from the Bishop of Norwich's own book and this day compar'd with it by me William Bedford, March 29th 1729'. This is probably William Bedford, M.D. (d. 1741), eldest son of Hilkiah Bedford who was consecrated as a non-juror bishop in 1721. The document is printed (from another copy at Emmanuel College, Cambridge) in George d' Oyly, 'The life of William Sancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury...' 2 vols (London, 1821), vol 2, pp. 31-32. ff. 3-4. Letter from Jean-Louis Verger (1826-1857), a priest of the archdiocese of Paris, to an unnamed English peer, described here as a subscriber to L' Observateur Catholique, with which Verger was closely connected. Paris, 30 December 1856. In French. In the letter, Verger describes himself as under an interdict for having been the first in France to preach against the new doctrine of the immaculate conception. He claims he is unable to publish his writings in France, and appeals for help to come to England to achieve publication. He also gives directions to enable his correspondent to access his papers for publication in his absence ('a mon defaut'). On 3 January 1857, a few days after this letter, Verger assassinated the Archbishop of Paris, Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour (1797-1857), during a service in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont. He was sentenced on 17 January and guillotined on 30 January 1857. On Verger, see Claude Savart, 'A propos d'une lettre inedite de L'Abbé Verger, l'assassin de Mgr Sibour', in J-D Durand and R Ladous, eds., 'Histoire religieuse, histoire globale, histoire ouverte. Mélanges offerts a Jacques Gadille' (Paris, 1992), pp. 497-516. Savart publishes here a letter of Verger in the Archives Nationales dated 1 Dec. 1855.

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