William Barlow (bishop of Chichester)

William Barlow
Bishop of Chichester
DioceseDiocese of Chichester
In office1559 – 1568 (death)
PredecessorJohn Christopherson
SuccessorRichard Curteys
Other post(s)Bishop of St Asaph (1536)
Bishop of St David's (1536–1548)
Bishop of Bath and Wells (1548–1553)
Orders
ConsecrationFebruary 1535[1]
Personal details
Born
William Barlow

c. 1498
Died(1568-08-13)13 August 1568 (aged c. 70 years)
Chichester, Sussex, England
BuriedChichester Cathedral
NationalityEnglish
DenominationProtestant
ParentsRobert Barlow
Anna
SpouseAgatha Wellsborne (1505–1595)
ChildrenWilliam Barlow
John Barlow
Margaret Overton
Anne Westfaling
Antonia Wickham
Elizabeth Day
Frances Matthew

William Barlow (also spelled Barlowe; c. 1498 – 13 August 1568) was an English Augustinian prior turned bishop of four dioceses, a complex figure of the Protestant Reformation. Aspects of his life await scholarly clarification. Labelled by some a "weathercock reformer",[2] he was in fact a staunch evangelical, an anti-Catholic and collaborator in the Dissolution of the Monasteries and dismantling of church estates; and largely consistent in his approach, apart from an early anti-Lutheran tract and a supposed recantation under Mary I. He was one of the four consecrators and the principal consecrator of Matthew Parker, as archbishop of Canterbury in 1559.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference DNB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Chamber's Biographical Dictionary (1912).