Augustine Lindsell


Augustine Lindsell was an English classical scholar and Bishop of Hereford. In church matters he was advanced by Richard Neile, and was a firm supporter of William Laud. As a scholar he influenced Thomas Farnaby.

Life

He was born at Bumstead-Steeple, Essex. On 4 April 1592, he was admitted pensioner of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, but was subsequently scholar and fellow of Clare Hall. He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1595/6, Cambridge Master of Arts in 1599, and Doctor of Divinity in 1621. At Clare, he was tutor to Nicholas Ferrar.
In March 1610, he became rector of Wickford, Essex. Neile, Bishop of Durham, appointed him his chaplain. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the Regius Professorship of Greek, when it was vacant after the resignation of Andrew Downes in 1627. He and Patrick Young were the two scholars given special access to the Barozzi manuscripts, and Lindsell worked on the cataloguing of the collection.
He was installed as Dean of Lichfield on 15 October 1628. He was responsible for introducing Christopher Davenport, the Catholic eirenicist, to Laud. With John Cosin and Francis Burgoyne, he was accused in 1630 of not maintaining that the Pope was the Antichrist. This small group at Durham was strongly opposed by Peter Smart, and he accused them of, in effect, wanting to turn back the Reformation.
On 10 February 1633, he was consecrated a bishop, becoming Bishop of Peterborough, and in March 1634 was translated to Hereford. He died unmarried on 6 November 1634, and was buried in Hereford Cathedral. To Clare Hall Library he bequeathed all his Greek manuscripts and some Greek books; to Robert Cotton he left a manuscript history of Ely Cathedral in Latin.

Works

His edition of Theophylact's Commentaries on St. Paul's Epistles was published by T. Baily, his coadjutor in the work. It is dedicated to Laud.