William Walsh ( – 4 January 1577) was an Irish Roman Catholic prelate and

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Unti ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, recognised by both the Crown and the Vatican from 1554 to 1560 and recognised by the Vatican from 1554 to 1577. After he ceased to be recognized by the Crown, he was in Ireland for a brief period from April 1575.

Biography

William Walsh was born at

Dunboyne Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. Location Dunboyne is centred on the ...

early in the 16th century, and was appointed, by the Pope, Bishop of Meath in 1554. He enjoyed more than one office under Elizabeth, but refusing in 1560 to conform in matters of religion, was first imprisoned and afterwards deprived of his bishopric. He was subsequently set free, but was again cast into prison in 1565. On 16 July, Adam Loftus, the Archbishop of Armagh, wrote to

Cecil Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada *Cecil, Alberta, ...

"He refused the oath, ... and openly showed himself to be a misliker of all the Queen's Majesty's proceedings. He openly protested before all the people, the same day he was before us, that he would never communicate or be present, by his will, where the service should be ministered, for it was against his conscience, and, as he thought, against God's Word. ... It were fit he should be sent to England, and peradventure by conferring with the learned bishops there he might be brought to some conformity. He is one of great credit amongst his countrymen, and upon whom, as touching causes of religion, they wholly depend."

After enduring seven years' imprisonment, he escaped to France about 1572. He appears to have returned to Ireland and resumed his episcopal functions in 1575, as in April of that year he had a brief from Rome empowering him to act for the dioceses of Armagh and Dublin, as well as Meath. Bishop Walsh subsequently retired to Spain, where he held the position of suffragan to the

Archbishop of Toledo This is a list of Bishops and Archbishops of Toledo ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Toletana).

. He died at Alcalá, 4 January 1577.

References

Year of birth uncertain 1577 deaths People of Elizabethan Ireland Roman Catholic bishops of Meath 16th-century Irish bishops 1510s births {{Ireland-RC-bishop-stub