Background
Fleetwood was descended of an ancient Lancashire family, and was born in the Tower of London on New Year's Day 1656.
Fleetwood was descended of an ancient Lancashire family, and was born in the Tower of London on New Year's Day 1656.
He received his education at Eton and at King's College, Cambridge.
About the time of the Revolution he took orders, and was shortly afterwards made rector of St Austin's, London, and lecturer of St Dunstan's in the West. He became a canon of Windsor in 1702, and in 1708 he was nominated to the see of St Asaph, from which he was translated in 1714 to that of Ely. He died at Tottenham, Middlesex, on the 4th of August 1723.
Fleetwood was regarded as the best preacher of his time. In episcopal administration he far excelled most of his contemporaries. His principal writings are An Essay on Miracles (1701); Chroni- cum preciosum (an account of the English coinage, 1707); and Free Sermons (1712), containing discourses on the death of Queen Mary. The monument to the preacher, created by the sculptor Edward Stanton and Horsnaile, is located in the Ely Cathedral of the Holy Ely and the Holy Trinity.
In 1702 Fleetwood accepted the church canons of Windsor, and in 1708 he was appointed Bishop of St. Asaph.
He was a zealous Hanoverian, and a favourite with Queen Anne in spite of his Whiggism. His opposition to the doctrine of non-resistance brought him into conflict with the tory ministry of 1712 and with Swift, but he never entered into personal controversy.
In his work 'Chronicon Preciosum', published without attribution, Fleetwood decided to measure the average level of prices for goods and services, based on an average of 5 pounds sterling. The fact is that in 1440, a man lost his job at the Oxford College by the statute of the college, if his income exceeded 5 pounds. Fleetwood showed how much you can buy bread, drink, meat, clothes and books, starting from different time intervals, providing data not only about the past, but also about the future. His tables with changes in the prices of many commodities have given the right to believe that price increases occur at the same rate. Fleetwood concluded that £ 5 in the 15th century is equivalent to 28-30 at the beginning of the 18th.
Quotations: "Our enemies will tell the rest with pleasure. "
He was accurate in learning, and effective in delivery, and his character stood deservedly high in general estimation.
He had lost his first wife, Frances Smith; and later he had a third wife, Mary, daughter of Sir John Coke and widow of Sir Edward Hartopp.
