Family and Education

b. c.1563, 2nd s. of Richard Paule of Norf. and Bridgnorth, Salop by Dorothy, da. of Fulk Lee of Langley, Salop. m. (1) Joan, da. of Nicholas Oldman of Berks., 3s. 1da.; (2) Rachel. Kntd. 1607.1

Offices Held

Servant of Abp. Whitgift 1584, comptroller of his household by 1599; jt. (with Richard Massinger) registrar of the diocese of Ely 1588-1600; jt. registrar and clerk of the acts 1603; j.p. Surr. by 1610; jt. chief clerk for enrolling pleas in King’s bench 1621-9; principal registrar to the high commrs. for eccles. causes by 1625.2

Biography

Paule’s career lies for the most part outside the Elizabethan period, but its pattern was set in 1584, when as a young man, barely of age, he entered Whitgift’s household. Henceforward he was to hold one ecclesiastical or legal office after another, mainly as registrar or clerk for enrolments. No doubt Whitgift had Paule returned for both Downton and Hindon, boroughs where the bishops of Winchester had considerable power. There is no record of Paule in the 1597 journals, but he sat on two committees in the 1601 Parliament, one on 23 Nov. for the confirmation of a grant to three London hospitals and the other on 9 Dec. for the assurances of certain manors.3

Domestic details about Paule are sparse. It seems unlikely that he had no formal higher education, but his name has not been found on university or inns of court registers. In addition to his house at Lambeth, he leased in March 1586 the parsonage of Graveney, Kent, part of the possessions of the archbishop of Canterbury. The lease was renewed in 1590, Paule’s annual rent being £7 6s.8d. In 1600 he and Richard Massinger sold their joint interest as registrars of Ely diocese to John Lamb.4

Paule is now remembered for his adulatory life of Whitgift, published in 1612 with a dedication to Archbishop Abbott. As a member of Whitgift’s household for over 20 years, and comptroller for the last eight years of his master’s life, he was better placed to collect valuable material than to appreciate the opposition aroused by Whitgift’s tactless methods. In the latter part of James I’s reign Paule became a follower of Buckingham, who obtained for him his King’s bench office. While principal registrar of the high commission court he died 16 Apr. 1635.5

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: R.C.G.

Notes

• 1. CSP Dom. 1629-31, p. 540; Vis. Salop (Harl. Soc. xxix), 393; Vis. Surr. (Harl. Soc. xliii), 205; J. C. Weyman, Bridgnorth MPs, 55-6; HMC 6th Rep. 79b.
• 2. Strype, Whitgift, i. 414; ii. 418, 507; CSP Dom. 1598-1601, pp. 388-9; 1603-10, p. 8; SP14/33.
• 3. Harl. 75, ff. 143, 154; D’Ewes, 648, 674.
• 4. CSP Dom. 1598-1601, pp. 388-9, 527.
• 5. Strype, Whitgift, ii. 418, 507, 518; DNB.