Roger Lupton

Roger Lupton (1456–27 February 1539/40)^[5] was an English lawyer and cleric who served as chaplain to King Henry VII (1485–1509) and to his son King Henry VIII (1509–1547) and was appointed by the former as Provost of Eton College (1503/4–1535).^[6][7][8]

Rubbing of monumental brass in Eton College Chapel, of Roger Lupton (d.1540). His hair displays the tonsure of a cleric. He wears the mantle of a Canon of Windsor (based in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle), displaying on his left shoulder a Cross of St George within a circle.^[1] A speech scroll emanating from his chest is inscribed in the Latin with the opening words of Psalm 51: Miserere mei Deus secundum magnam misericordiam tuam ("Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness"^[2]). Below is an heraldic escutcheon displaying his arms

Arms of Roger Lupton: Argent, on a cheveron between three wolves' heads erased sable three lilies argent, on a chief gules a Tau cross between two escallops or^[3]

Lupton's Tower, Eton College, built 1514–20, together with Lupton's Chapel^[4]

Family origins

The Lupton family originated at the manor of Lupton, near Kirkby Lonsdale then in Westmorland, in present day Cumbria.^[9] The name was first recorded in the 15th century.

Career

Lupton was born in 1456 in the parish of Sedbergh, at that time situated in Yorkshire, the son of Thomas Lupton of Sedbergh.^[6] He is first recorded at Cambridge University in 1479, where he was a member of King's College,^[10] a twin royal foundation with Eton College, in the governance and development of which latter he subsequently played a major role. He was admitted a Bachelor of Canon Law at Cambridge in 1484 and a Doctor of Canon Law in 1504.^[11][12]

In 1484, shortly after his graduation, Lupton served in the Court of Chancery, and was later appointed Rector of Harlton in Cambridgeshire. In 1500 he succeeded Oliver Dynham (1480–1500) as a Canon of Windsor, namely as the Canon of the 7th Stall, which office he held until his death. In February 1503/4 he was elected a Fellow and then Provost of Eton College,^[13] near Windsor, which post he retained until 1535. In 1509/10 he was occupying the post of Master of St. Anthony's Hospital, St Benet Fink in the City of London, but the exact date of his appointment is not known.^[14] In 1475 this Hospital, previously an independent foundation, had been annexed and appropriated to the College of St. George at Windsor Castle, and thus Lupton's appointment as Master was by the king.

Founds Sedbergh School

In 1525, Dr Roger Lupton began to provide finance for the founding of Sedbergh School, a Chantry School in Sedbergh, the place of his birth. A few scholars were gathered together under a Chaplain, Henry Blomeyr. Lupton's intentions were twofold: "for the maintaining and increase of learning in Christ's Church", and "for his soul's health". An agreement was made so that the chaplain and scholars should have free seats in the chancel of Sedbergh Church. Sedbergh School continues to use Lupton's coat of arms as its emblem.^[15] In 1527, he established six scholarships to St John's College, Cambridge, to be awarded exclusively to boys from Sedbergh School with a preference for founder's kin^[16] - Lupton having had no children himself - and that they be sons of men with "lands truly purchased whose mansions were sufficienty built". A document held in the archives of St John's records that the scholars were:

"to be chosen from the grammar scole of Sedbare, wher the sayd Roger Lupton was borne and hath foundyd a perpetuall chauntry and the sayd grammar scole indued sufficiently with lyvelode and lands truly and suerly purchased and manciones sufficiently bylded".

As per the founder's kin clause, Lupton's relative, William Lupton (1732–1782), attended Sedbergh School and then St John's College, Cambridge before being assistant master at Leeds Grammar School and ordained to pursue a ministry in the Anglican church.^{[17][18][19][20]}

After land had been purchased and a school building constructed, almost certainly on the site of the present School Library, the foundation deed was signed, which bound the School to St John's College, Cambridge, which thenceforth had the power to appoint Headmasters. In 1535 two further scholarships to Cambridge were established by Lupton, with provision for two Fellowships also.

Death and burial

He died on 27 February 1539/40 and was buried in Lupton's Chapel at Eton College, a side chapel (within the main College Chapel) which was commissioned by Lupton. His monumental brass survives at Eton, showing him dressed as a Canon of Windsor wearing a long robe with a cross.^[21] (Illustrated in Lack, Stuchfield and Whittemore, Monumental Brasses of Buckinghamshire, p. 86; brass rubbing at Ashmolean Museum, ref: "Buckinghamshire 2/106"^[22]). Lupton's Tower, a bell tower built during his time as Provost, is also named after him. His death is commemorated each year on 27 February at Eton on Threepenny Day which he founded.^[23]

Lupton coat-of-arms

Lupton was chaplain to both Kings Henry VII (1485–1509) and his son Henry VIII (1509–1547)^[6][24] and was executor of Henry VII's will.^[25] King Henry VII granted Lupton a coat-of-arms. The arms were: Argent, on a cheveron between three wolves' heads erased sable three lilies argent, on a chief gules a Tau cross between two escallops^[26] or^[27] The Tau cross was a symbol of Saint Anthony of Egypt and thus probably referred to his mastership of St Anthony's Hospital. The wolves were canting references to his surname from the Latin Lupus, "a wolf", and Sable, three lilies argent, the same arrangement, is the base part of the arms of Eton College. The crest – a wolf's head erased -^[28] was borne by Lupton's collateral descendants. Sir John Burke described the coat-of-arms in 1844 as a "Wolf's head and neck erased sable" from the arms granted to the Lupton family's ancestor, Roger Lupton by Henry VII.^[29][30]

See also

• Lupton family

References

1. the cross of the Order of the Garter, as is stated in certain sources
2. Text per King James's Bible
3. Burke, Sir John Bernard (1844). Encyclopædia of Heraldry, Or General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland: Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms. H. Bohn. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Lupton (Yorkshire; granted temp, Henry VII.) The same Arms and Crest [as above - Lupton (Thame, co. Oxford)]
4. Historic England. "Eton College (1290278)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
5. According to a book about Lupton by R. Cann (2005), Lupton died in 1540.
6. Lupton, Joseph Hirst. "Lupton, Roger" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 34. pp. 286=287. see para 3:-....It seems certain that the provost of Eton before 23 March 1510 resigned the prebend of St. Michael, Warwick, being then styled king's chaplain....
7. "Henry VIII: May 1509, 1–14 Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509–1514. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1920". British History Online. Retrieved 23 January 2013. The King's chaplains: Mr. Hobbys, Mr. Cosyn, Mr. Vaghan, Mr. Lupton, Mr. Lychfeld, Mr. Honywood, Mr. West, brother to the lord Dalaware, Mr. Wolsey, Mr. Oxenbrygge, Mr. Esterfeld, Mr. Fyssher, Mr. Rawlyns, Mr. Teylour, Mr. Hatton "profyce of Cambryge," Mr Petir of ye Closet
8. Leach, Athur Francis (18 April 2013). Early Yorkshire Schools. Cambridge University Press. p. xli. ISBN 9781108058599. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
9. Green, Carole (13 November 2015). "Looking for Luptons". BBC York and North Yorkshire. Retrieved 14 February 2015.
10. Wright, Stephen. J. (September 2004). "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Lupton, Roger (1456–1540). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). ODNB. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17203. Retrieved 23 January 2015. Lupton, Roger (1456–1540) (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
11. "Lupton, Roger (LPTN483R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
12. Venn, John, ed. (2011). Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students ..., Volume 1. Cambridge University. p. 118. ISBN 9781108036092. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
13. Wilson, Christopher (26 July 2013). The Middletons deserve a title – step forward, the Earl and Countess of Fairfax. UK Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016. The Luptons...... have been established in Yorkshire since the 15th century – (one of) the earliest recorded members being Roger Lupton, who became Canon of Windsor in 1500 and subsequently Provost of Eton
14. Victoria County History, Volume 1, London Within the Bars, Westminster and Southwark, ed. William Page, London, 1909, pp. 581–584: Alien Houses: Hospital of St Anthony'
15. "Sedbergh School Foundation" (PDF). Sedbergh School Foundation Inc. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
16. Leech, A. (18 April 2013). Early Yorkshire Schools. Cambridge University Press, 18 Apr 2013. ISBN 9781108058599. Retrieved 22 January 2017. Preference was to be given for: a) founder's kin b) natives of ....
17. Venn, J. (15 September 2011). Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students ..., Volume 1. Cambridge University Press, 15 Sep 2011. p. 118. ISBN 978-1108036092. Retrieved 22 January 2015. LUPTON William.. admitted sizar age 17 at St Johns....son of William of Yorkshire...born at Leeds...school, Sedbergh, Matric 1750, BA 1754... ordained deacon 1755....died 1782 (Scott-Mayor III. 594.)
18. "The Admission Register of the Manchester School, Volume II". Manchester School. 1866. p. 56. Retrieved 23 January 2015. The Rev. William Lupton, Headingley, was usher (assistant master) of Leeds Grammar
19. "History and Heritage". Sedbergh School. Retrieved 23 January 2015. Founded in 1525 by the Provost of Eton- Roger Lupton
20. Lupton, C. A. (1965). "The Lupton Family in Leeds". Wm. Harrison & Son, 1965. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
21. Saul, Nigel, St George's Chapel, Windsor, in the Fourteenth Century, p.112
22. "Ashmolean".
23. Past, Papers (20 April 1914). "THREEPENNY DAY AT ETON". Northern Advocate. p. 2. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
24. "Henry VIII: May 1509, 1–14 Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII, Volume 1, 1509–1514. Originally published by His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1920". British History Online. Retrieved 23 January 2013. The King's chaplains: Mr. Hobbys, Mr. Cosyn, Mr. Vaghan, Mr. Lupton, Mr. Lychfeld, Mr. Honywood, Mr. West, brother to the lord Dalaware, Mr. Wolsey, Mr. Oxenbrygge, Mr. Esterfeld, Mr. Fyssher, Mr. Rawlyns, Mr. Teylour, Mr. Hatton "profyce of Cambryge," Mr Petir of ye Closet
25. BOEREMA, Jurgen (22 December 2010). "Local author shares work". Washington Daily News. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
26. (?) Possibly bells, another symbol of Saint Anthony, of which two were often shown suspended from the cross member of a Tau cross
27. 'Armorial Index', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the City of Cambridge (London, 1959), pp. 397–414 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/cambs/pp397-414
28. Berry, William (1828). "Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, Volume 2". Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
29. Burke, Sir John Bernard (1844). Encyclopædia of Heraldry, Or General Armory of England, Scotland and Ireland: Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms. H. Bohn. Retrieved 19 August 2020. Lupton (Yorkshire; granted temp, Henry VII.) The same Arms and Crest [as above - Lupton (Thame, co. Oxford)]
30. Berry, William (1828). "Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, Volume 2". Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper. Retrieved 25 January 2015. ... borne by Harry Lupton Esq.,... 1825...

• Stephen Wright, ‘Lupton, Roger (1456–1540)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, October 2006, accessed 28 April 2007. (subscription access)

Academic offices
Preceded by Henry Bost	Provost of Eton 1504–1535	Succeeded by Roger Aldrich