ABSTRACT
On 26 April 1528, John Gibbons, chancellor of Exeter Cathedral, was presented to the vicarage of Plymouth. Tollet’s family background is unknown, although his will shows that he must have had at least one brother and at least two sisters. Oldham’s death and the succession of John Veysey as bishop saw a renewal of Tollet’s commission as vicar-general in November 1519. Admissions were one of vicar-general’s main responsibilities, but he also exercised administrative authority on the bishop’s behalf when he commanded the diocesan suffragan bishop to conduct ordinations, or to bless a newly elected abbot. Tollet’s functions in the Church were organisational, and he could not perform certain important spiritual functions, namely those associated with the possession of episcopal orders, such as ordination, confirmation and the conferment of episcopal blessings. There certainly are ways in which the careers of Tollet and Cornish reflect some of the abuses of the pre-Reformation Church.
