Geoffrey Blythe

For his nephew, see Geoffrey Blythe (divine).

Geoffrey Blythe
Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield
In office1503 – c. 1530
PredecessorJohn Arundel
SuccessorRowland Lee
Personal details
Born
Norton, Derbyshire
Diedc. 1530
DenominationCatholic
ParentsWilliam Blythe & wife (née Rotherham)

Geoffrey Blythe (died c. 1530) was the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield.[1]

Blythe was born at Norton in Derbyshire (now part of Sheffield) to William Blythe and a sister of Thomas Rotherham, Archbishop of York.[2] He was schooled at Eton and then entered King's College, Cambridge in 1483.[3][4] He was ordained a priest on 4 April 1496. King Henry VII entertained a high opinion of his abilities, and often employed him in foreign embassies. He was special ambassador on 27 May 1502 to Vladislas II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and on his return was rewarded with the bishopric of Coventry and Lichfield. From 1512 to 1524 he was appointed president of the Council of Wales and the Marches.

Blythe's elder brother John was Bishop of Salisbury, and Bishops' House in Sheffield is said to be so named because it was built for the brothers, though there is no evidence that they ever lived there.[5]

  1. ^ "Blythe, Geoffrey (d.1530)" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  2. ^ Cox, John Charles (1903). Derbyshire. London: Methuen & Co. p. 51. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  3. ^ "Blythe, Geoffrey (BLT483G)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ^ Cooper, Charles Henry; Cooper, Thompson (1858). Athenae Cantabrigienses. Vol. I. 1500–1585. London: Bell & Daldy. pp. 40–41. ISBN 9780598016980. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  5. ^ "Bishops' House". Museums Sheffield. Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust. Archived from the original on 20 November 2005. Retrieved 14 March 2009.