Edmund Gibson papers, 1672-1767

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Summary

Creators:
Gibson, Edmund, 1669-1748
Abstract:
A collection of material related to Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London, in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Extent:
1.25 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Edmund Gibson papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The material in the collection includes a bound volume (with approximately 50 pieces, from 1672 to 1748), correspondence, documents, and manuscripts. The material covers 17th and 18th-century English religious affairs and ecclesiastical patronage, as reflected in the correspondence of Bishop Edmund Gibson with important religious figures such as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of Worcester, Chichester, Salisbury, Derry, and Lincoln, the Duke of Newcastle, the 3rd Earl of Burlington, the 1st Earl Hardwicke, and 5th Baron of Baltimore. Some material in the collection deals with the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, churches in the American colonies, some personal and financial affairs, and the publication of the Codex juris ecclesiae Anglicanae after Gibson's death.

Biographical / historical:

Edmund Gibson (1669-1748), Bishop of London, was born at Knipe, Westmoreland, and educated at Brampton School, and at Queens College, Oxford, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1691 and a Master of Arts in 1694. Gibson began to publish books dealing with Anglo-Saxon studies and general antiquarian interests, and in 1692 published a catalog of the manuscripts in the library founded by Thomas Tenison at St. Martins-in-the-Fields. Gibson was ordained as a priest in 1697 and owed much of his subsequent ecclesiastical preferment to Tenison, now Archbishop of Canterbury, who appointed him domestic chaplain and librarian at Lambeth. In 1713 he published his most important work, the Codex juris ecclesiae Anglicanae, a comprehensive compilation of the laws of the Church of England, which became the standard authority on church law and of which an abstract was published by Richard Grey in 1730. Gibson was created Bishop of Lincoln in 1716 and translated to London in 1723, where he continued his literary activities and instituted campaigns for theological orthodoxy and against contemporary immorality. A High Church Whig, Gibson was an influential advisor to Sir Robert Walpole until the two fell out over Gibson's strenuous and successful opposition to the Quaker's Relief Bill in 1736. In 1737 Gibson, long recognized as a candidate for the Archbishopric of Canterbury, was passed over in favor of John Potter. At the latter's death in 1747 Gibson was at last offered the appointment but declined on the grounds of age and ill health and died in Bath the following year.

Acquisition information:
Gift of Frank Marcham, March 1940.
Processing information:

Processed by Gayle M. Richardson in September 2016; in May 2024, the finding aid was created.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Edmund Gibson papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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