Robert King (died 1558) was an English churchman who became the first Bishop of Oxford.

Biography

Robert King was a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

monk, of Thame Park Abbey, and the last Abbot there, a position he obtained perhaps through the influence of the Bishop of Lincoln,

John Longland John Longland (1473 – 7 May 1547) was the English Dean of Salisbury from 1514 to 1521 and Bishop of Lincoln from 1521 to his death in 1547. Career He was made a Demy at Magdalen College, Oxford in 1491 and became a Fellow. He was King Henry ...

, as whose prebendary and

suffragan bishop A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

he had acted from 1535: he was appointed suffragan bishop in Lincoln on 7 January 1527, and ordained and consecrated to the titular See of Rheon, Greece (''Reonesis'') on 13 May. This was a move from the position of abbot at Bruerne Abbey. Previously he had been vicar at Charlbury. King became abbot at

Oseney Abbey Osney Abbey or Oseney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral, was a house of Augustinian canons at Osney in Oxfordshire. The site is south of the modern Botley Road, down Mill Street by Osney Cemetery, next to the railway line just south of Oxford st ...

in 1537. Both Thame Park and Oseney were dissolved in 1539, as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries under

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. In 1541 King was made Bishop of Thame and Oseney. The next year his diocese was changed, into the Diocese of Oxford. In further changes the cathedral in Oxford was the previous St Frideswide's Priory, and became instead part of

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. King is commemorated there by a window made by Bernard van Linge. The buildings of the old

Gloucester College, Oxford Gloucester College, Oxford, was a Benedictine institution of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, from the late 13th century until the Dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. It was never a typical college of the Universit ...

, which had become in 1542 the bishop's palace, were under Edward VI taken back by the Crown. King lived in what is now called the Old Palace (rebuilt in the seventeenth century), and Littlemore Hall. Under Mary, he returned to Catholicism. He was a judge at the trial of Cranmer.

References

External links

Tudor Place – Robert King, Bishop of Oseney and OxfordOxford History – Bishops – Introduction
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Robert Year of birth missing 1558 deaths English Cistercians Bishops of Oxford 16th-century English bishops 16th-century English Roman Catholic bishops Burials at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford