Adrian Fortescue

Adrian Henry Timothy Knottesford Fortescue (14 January 1874 – 11 February 1923) was an English Roman Catholic priest who was an influential liturgist, artist, calligrapher, composer, polyglot, amateur photographer, Byzantine scholar, and adventurer.

Biography

Early life and education

Adrian Fortescue, a direct descendant of the Blessed Adrian Fortescue (d. 1539), was born on 14 January 1874 in Hampstead, London, into a Midland county family of ancient lineage and high position. His father was Rev. Edward Fortescue, a renowned High Church Anglican clergyman who was "highly regarded as a preacher and retreat master" and an active participant in the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement. His mother, Gertrude Martha Robins, was the daughter of Rev. Sanderson Robins, another Anglican clergyman, and Caroline Gertrude Foster-Barham, the scion of the Foster-Barham family of Jamaican plantantion owners and granddaughter of the 8th Earl of Thanet.

In 1891 Adrian entered the Scots' College in Rome where, due to his exceptional musical talent, he was soon appointed organist. He was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Divinity in 1892, and his PhD in 1894, when he entered the Theological Faculty at Innsbruck University. He was ordained to the priesthood on 27 March 1898 by Simon Aichner, Bishop of Brixen.

Adrian Fortescue (martyr)

Sir Adrian Fortescue (1476 – 9 July 1539) was a courtier at the court of King Henry VIII of England who was executed in 1539 and later beatified as a Roman Catholic martyr.

Life

Adrian Fortescue was the son of Sir John Fortescue of Ponsbourne Park at Newgate Street Village in Hertfordshire, and a cousin of Anne Boleyn's father. He descended from Richard Fortescue, younger brother of Sir Henry Fortescue (fl. 1426), Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland and of Sir John Fortescue (ca. 1394 – ca. 1480), Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, all sons of Sir John Fortescue, of Wimpstone, in the parish of Modbury, Devon, appointed in 1422 Captain of the captured Castle of Meaux, 25 miles NE of Paris.

He was made a Knight of the Bath in 1503 and participated in England's wars against France in 1513 and 1523. He was made a Knight of the Order of St. John in 1532. Sir Adrian was also a Dominican Tertiary.

On 29 August 1534, he was arrested without any stated reason but was freed after a period of months. In 1539, he was one of sixteen people condemned for treason without a trial by Parliament for unspecified acts presumably relating to hostility to Henry VIII's church policies. He was beheaded at the Tower of London on 9 July 1539.