William Mowse (Mouse, Mosse) (died 1588) was an English lawyer and Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Life

He graduated LL.B. at Cambridge in 1538, took holy orders, and in 1552 proceeded LL.D. In the latter year, through the interest of Thomas Cranmer and William Cecil, he obtained the mastership of Trinity Hall on the removal of Walter Haddon. On the accession of Mary (6 July 1553) he took an active part in ousting Edwin Sandys from the vice-chancellorship, but was himself ousted from Trinity Hall to make way for the reinstatement of Stephen Gardiner. The same year he was incorporated at Oxford, and in the following year was appointed regius professor of civil law there. In July 1555 he subscribed the Marian articles of religion, and on Gardiner's death, 12 November, the mastership of Trinity Hall was restored to him. By

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in 1556 he was appointed advocate of the court of Canterbury, and on 7 November1557 he was admitted a member of the

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. On 12 December 1558 he was instituted to the rectory of Norton or Greensnorton, Northamptonshire. Though deprived of the Oxford chair and of the mastership of Trinity Hall soon after the accession of Elizabeth I, Mowse was in 1559 constituted vicar-general and official of the

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, dean of the arches, and judge of the court of audience. In 1560 he was instituted to the rectory of

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, Norfolk. In 1564 he sat on a commission, appointed 27 April, to try admiralty causes arising from depredations alleged to have been committed by English privateers on Spanish commerce. He died in 1588. By his will, dated 30 May 1586, he was a liberal donor to Trinity Hall. Mowse was an able lawyer and a scholar, on friendly terms with

Sir John Cheke Sir John Cheke (or Cheek) (16 June 1514 – 13 September 1557) was an English classical scholar and statesman. One of the foremost teachers of his age, and the first Regius Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, he played a great pa ...

. thought worthy of his friendship. He assisted in the compilation of

John Lesley John Lesley (or Leslie) (29 September 1527 – 31 May 1596) was a Scottish Roman Catholic bishop and historian. His father was Gavin Lesley, rector of Kingussie, Badenoch. Early career He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, where he ...

's ''Defence of the Queen of Scots''.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mowse, William Masters of Trinity Hall, Cambridge 1588 deaths Regius Professors of Civil Law (University of Oxford) 16th-century scholars Year of birth missing 16th-century English lawyers