William Petow

Who is William Petow?

William Petow was an English Franciscan friar and, shortly, a cardinal.

Though his parentage was long unknown, it is now established that he was the son of Edward Peyto of Chesterton, Warwickshire, and Goditha, daughter of Sir Thomas Throckmorton of Coughton. He was educated by the Grey Friars and took his degree of B. A. at the University of Oxford; but he was incorporated in Cambridge university, 1502-3, and became M. A. there in 1505. He was elected fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge in 1506, and on 14 June 1510, was incorporated M. A. at Oxford.

Entering the Franciscan Order, he became known for his holiness of life, and was appointed confessor to Princess Mary. Later on he was elected Provincial of England and held that office when in 1532 he denounced the divorce of Henry VIII in the king's presence; R. W.Chambers wrote that Petow survived because he warned Henry of consequences in the future, which could be neither proved nor disproved. He was imprisoned till the end of that year, when he went abroad and spent many years at Antwerp and elsewhere in the Low Countries, being active on behalf of all Catholic interests.

In 1539 he was included in the Act of Attainder passed against Cardinal Pole and his friends, but he was in Italy at the time and remained there out of the king's reach. On 30 March 1543, Pope Paul III nominated him Bishop of Salisbury. He could not then obtain possession of his diocese, nor did he attempt to do so on the accession of Queen Mary in 1553, but he resigned the see and retired to his old convent at Greenwich.