John Bird (bishop)

John Bird (died 1558) was an English Carmelite monk and bishop.

He was Warden of the Carmelite house in Coventry, and twice Provincial of his order.^[1]^[2] He attracted the attention of Henry VIII by his preaching in favour of the royal supremacy over the Church.^[3]

He was suffragan to the Bishop of Llandaff and was then translated to become Bishop of Bangor. He then was appointed as the inaugural Bishop of Chester. The new diocese had both administrative and financial problems: Bird tried to address the finances, and dispensed with archdeacons, but succeeded only in making bad deals with the Crown and with leaseholders.^[4]

After the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary he had to surrender his bishopric since he was married. He retained his living at Dunmow and lived out his life as its vicar.^[3]

Source

Richard Copsey, ‘Bird, John (d. 1558)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 12 Aug 2008

Notes

^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36508
^ http://www.carmelite.org/chronology/york.htm
^ ^a ^b http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03649a.htm
^ Christopher Haigh, Reformation and Resistance in Tudor Lancashire (1975), pp. 7-10.

Church of England titles
New title	Bishop of Penrith 1537–1539	In abeyance Title next held by John Pulleine in 1888
Preceded by John Capon	Bishop of Bangor 1539–1541	Succeeded by Arthur Bulkeley
New diocese	Bishop of Chester 1542–1554	Succeeded by George Cotes

Persondata
Name	Bird, John
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	1558
Place of death