Christopher Bainbridge ( 1462/1464 – 14 July 1514) was an English cardinal. Of Westmorland origins, he was a nephew of Bishop Thomas Langton of Winchester, represented the continuation of Langton's influence and teaching and succeeded him in many of his appointments such as provost of The Queen's College in the University of Oxford. Towards the end of the reign of King Henry VII, he was successively Master of the Rolls, a Privy Counsellor, Dean of Windsor and Bishop of Durham. Becoming Archbishop of York and therefore Primate of England in 1508, he was sent as procurator of King Henry VIII to the papal court of Pope Julius II, where he was active in the diplomatic affairs leading to Henry's war against France and took part in the election of Julius's successor, Pope Leo X.D.S. Chambers, Cardinal Bainbridge in the Court of Rome, 1509–1514 (Oxford University Press, London 1965). He was murdered by poisoning in Italy in 1514 and was succeeded as Archbishop of York by Thomas Wolsey.'Christophle Bambridge', in A. Aubéry, Histoire Générale des Cardinaux, Partie III (Chez Iean Iost, Paris 1645), pp. 164-67 (Google).'Bambridge or Bainbridge (Christopher)', in A. Kippis, Biographia Britannica: or, The Lives of the Most Eminent Persons who have Flourished in Great Britain and Ireland, 2nd edition (W. & A. Strahan, London 1778), I, pp. 575-77 (Google).
Early life Christopher Bainbridge was born in Hilton, Westmorland (then in the parish of St Michael Bongate, in Appleby),But he is stated, by J. Nicolson and R. Burn, The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, 2 vols (W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London 1777), I, p. 614 (Google), to have been born within the manor of Burton in the parish of Warcop. to an established local family with roots in Bainbridge, North Yorkshire. He was said to have been fifty years old at his death and must therefore have been born about 1464. A son of Reginald Bainbridge and Isobel Langton,D.S. Chambers, 'Bainbridge, Christopher (1462/3–1514)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (OUP 2004). he was a nephew and protégé of Thomas Langton of Appleby, Bishop of Winchester, a relationship formative in his ecclesiastical career.R. Percival Brown, 'Thomas Langton and his tradition of learning', Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Series 2 XXVI (1926), pp. 150-246 (archaeology data service pdf), at pp. 174-83 with pedigree following p. 176.Schofield, Nicholas. "Christopher Bainbridge (1464–1514), cardinal archbishop of York and Henry VIII's ambassador to the pope", The Venerable English College Archives Hilton is due east of Appleby, on the eastern margin of the Vale of Eden where it rises into the Pennines.
It is supposed that Christopher received part of his education at The Queen's College, Oxford, although there is no surviving record of this. His uncle Langton had been a student of the college, and returned to it in 1487 as Provost, a post to which Bainbridge himself succeeded.J.R. Magrath, The Queen's College, I: 1341-1646 (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1921), pp. 152-57 (Internet Archive). He also studied law at Ferrara and Bologna. He was granted an indult in 1479 which allowed him to hold church benefices while still unordained and under the age of 16, and another in 1482 that allowed him to hold more than one benefice concurrently. His cousin Robert Langton "the pilgrim" (died 1524) was educated at Queen's College Oxford and there proceeded D.C.L. in 1501.Will of Robert Langton, Clerk and Prebendary of Salisbury (P.C.C. 1524, Bodfelde quire).R.B. Tate, 'Robert Langton, pilgrim (1470–1524)', Nottingham Medieval Studies 39 (1995), p. 182 ff.
The appointment of Thomas Langton to the see of Salisbury left a vacancy for Bainbridge's presentation to the church of Pembridge, Herefordshire on 28 April 1485.Calendar of Patent Rolls, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, AD 1476-1485 (HMSO 1901), p. 538 (Internet Archive). He held the prebend of South Grantham (Lincolnshire) in the Salisbury diocese until February 1485/86, when he exchanged it for that of Chardstock, Dorset,'Prebendaries: Chardstock', in J.M. Horn (ed.), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541, Vol. 3: Salisbury Diocese (IHR, London 1962), pp. 39-41 (British History Online). and two months later received the prebend of Horton, Dorset, which he held until 1508.'Prebendaries: Horton', in J.M. Horn (ed.), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541, Vol. 3: Salisbury Diocese (IHR, London 1962), pp. 60-62 (British History Online). He was described as magister, or scientist, by 1486.
In the early 1490s he was named a chamberlain of the English Hospice in Rome and rented one of its houses. At Bologna he was admitted DCL in 1492; he was in Rome between 1492 and 1494. Having received the prebend of North Kelsey, Lincolnshire (in Lincoln cathedral) in 1495/96, which he held until 1500,'Prebendaries: North Kelsey', in H.P.F. King, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541, Vol. 1: Lincoln Diocese (IHR, London 1962), pp. 98-100 (British History Online). he succeeded Thomas Langton as Provost of Queen's College in 1496."Christopher Bainbridge (c.1464–1514), Provost (1496–1508), Cardinal ", ArtUK Langton was elected Archbishop of Canterbury but died in January 1500/01 before he could be installed. His will appointed Christopher Bainbridge one of his executors, and Bainbridge was one of three who swore to administer at probate in 1501.Will of Thomas Langton, Bishop of Winchester, of Appulby, Westmorland (P.C.C. 1501, Moone quire) ["anno domini millesimo quingentesimo primo"]. He may therefore have participated in the establishment of Langton's tomb and chantry"prope tumbam et scrinium beati Swithuni ubi meis executoribus commodius videbitur". in the chapel of St Birinus at Winchester Cathedral,'The Chantry Chapels', Winchester Cathedral website . and was certainly involved in setting up his chantry in Bongate, Appleby.
By 1497 he had become chaplain to king Henry VII, and in 1501 was named archdeacon of Surrey in the diocese of Winchester.'Archdeacons: Surrey', in B. Jones (ed.), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541, Vol. 4: Monastic Cathedrals (Southern Province) (IHR, London 1963), pp. 48-49 (British History Online). Having been presented to the prebend of Strensall, North Riding of Yorkshire, in the cathedral of York'Prebendaries: Strensall', in B. Jones (ed.), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541, Vol. 6: Northern Province (York, Carlisle and Durham) (IHR, London 1963), pp. 80-82 (British History Online). in September 1503, in December of that year he became dean of York. He was appointed Master of the Rolls in 1504, and was incorporated at Lincoln's Inn on 20 January 1505: in the same year, being admitted to the Privy Council, he became Dean of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. He was appointed Bishop of Durham on 27 August 1507.
Archbishop of York and Cardinal Bainbridge was translated to York on 22 September 1508 (a sign of the favour he enjoyed at court), where his kinsman Dr Henry Machell, Doctor of both Laws in the University of Cambridge,'Machell or Machyll', in J. Venn and J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, I Part 3 (Cambridge University Press 1924), p. 123 (Internet Archive).M. Bateson (ed.), Grace Book B. Part I: Containing the Proctors' Accounts and Other Records of the University of Cambridge for the Years 1488–1511, Luard Memorial Series II, Cambridge Antiquarian Society (Cambridge University Press 1903), pp. 133, 179, 182, 210, 213–14, 218, 220, 226, 234, 237. became CommissarySee 'CLXIII. Will of Martin Collins, Treasurer of York (Bainbridge register, 135–36)', in J. Raine (ed.),Testamenta Eboracensia: A Selection of Wills from the Registry at York, IV, Surtees Society LIII, 1869 (1868), pp. 277 ff, at pp. 279, 297 (Google) and again named Commissary in the 1518 will of Sir Brian Stapleton of Wighill, Testamenta Eboracensia V, Surtees Society LXXIX (1884), pp. 94-95 (Internet Archive). (holding the prebend of North Newbald'Prebendaries: North Newbald', in B. Jones, Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541, Vol. 6: Northern Province (York, Carlisle and Durham) (IHR, London 1963), pp. 68-70 (British History Online).), and Robert Langton his Treasurer (with the prebend of Weighton'Prebendaries: Weighton', in B. Jones (ed.), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541, Vol. 6: Northern Province (York, Carlisle and Durham) (London 1963), pp. 88-89 (British History Online).):Chambers, Cardinal Bainbridge in the Court of Rome, 1509–1514, p. 19. See Durham Cathedral Muniments, Register V (Durham University Library Archives and Special Collections, ref. GB-0033-DCD-Regr-5), fol. 124 r-v (17 March 1510) - "Machill". both of them were admitted to the York Guild of Corpus Christi in 1510.R.H. Skaife (ed.), The Register Of The Guild Of Corpus Christi In The City Of York, Surtees Society LVII, for 1871 (1872), p. 170 (Google). Bainbridge attended the coronation of King Henry VIII on 23 June 1509, and on 24 September Henry appointed him to be his personal Orator, Procurator, Agent, Factor, Negotiator and Special Nuncio to the Roman Curia of Pope Julius II.'De Archiepiscopo Eborum, Procuratore in Curia Romana, Constituto', in T. Rymer, Foedera, Conventiones, Literae, Et Cujuscunque Generis Acta (etc.), vol. XIII (A. & J. Churchill, London 1712), pp. 264-65 (Google). In this mission, which occupied the remainder of his life,D.S. Chambers, Cardinal Bainbridge in the Court of Rome, 1509–1514.W.E. Wilkie, The Cardinal Protectors of England: Rome and the Tudors Before the Reformation (Cambridge University Press, 1974), pp. 40-52 (Google). Bainbridge took with him a train including Richard Pace, who had studied in Oxford and in Padua as a protégé of Thomas Langton's, and held Bainbridge in great admiration.Brown, 'Thomas Langton and his tradition of learning', pp. 157–58, 179–80, 220-23.
Just at this time Julius had taken alarm at the invasion of Italy by Louis XII of France, and the support of England was therefore of great importance. It is said that Bainbridge, who was to support the cause of the Venetians, sent letters urging Henry to intervene against France, to provide a pretext to close the war in Italy and reignite it in France.Polydore Vergil, ed. D.F. Sutton, Anglica Historia (1555 version), Book XXVII: Henry VIII, caps 2, 3, 5, 12 (Philological Museum hypertext edition, University of Birmingham). The French historian Aubéry accuses Bainbridge of cunning and artifice, and of mixing his personal ambition to become a cardinal with the interests of his royal master. Julius left Rome to relieve Bologna, and was nearly taken prisoner in the war. A group of pro-French cardinals summoned a council in opposition to him at Pisa, which Julius opposed by calling another council at Rome, the Fifth Lateran Council,Francesco Guicciardini,Storia d'Italia, Lib.10, cap.2. in the course of which he created (in March 1511) several new Cardinals, of whom Bainbridge was one, with the title of "Cardinal of St. Praxed's" or Santa Prassede.
Aubéry repeats what was said by Paride de' Grassi in his Life of Julius II concerning two occasions on which Bainbridge acted surprisingly while in Rome. On the first occasion, while he was still only Archbishop of York, he was required to make a speech of thanks before the Pope and the Sacred College, when the pope had bestowed upon King Henry the Golden Rose, a special token of Papal affection. Bainbridge had hardly begun his speech when he suddenly said nothing more by way of thanks or explanation, and left the conclave amidst much confusion.