John Bell (bishop of Worcester)

John Bell''' L.L.D (d.1556) Was educated at Cambridge, Middle Temple. During the reign of Henry VIII and the Reformation, he held several ecclesiastical posts. Bell was among those sent to Rome by Henry VIII to the Lateran council. When Bell was made one of Henry VIII's chaplins He was employed by him in divers ways in furthering his divorce from Catharine of Aragon. In 1527 Bell appeared as the King's proxy and in 1528 was consulted by the King and by Cardinal Wolsey on the the matter of the Pope's dispensation and on the commission to Wolsey and Campeggio to decide the validity of his union to Catharine. In 1529 Dr. Bell appeared as King's counsel and led those who pleaded for the King before legatees in Blackfriars Hall; and was commissioned to assist the Archbishop in preparing royal proclamation against William Tyndal's translation of the Scriptures and a number of heretical books. In 1536 Bell was directed to assist the King with the drawing up of a definition of faith and the Book of Common Prayer. In 1539 Bell succeded Hugh Latimer as Bishop of Worcester and assisted with the baptism of Edward VI at Hampton Court. In 1540 Bell was a member of the committie of convocation which pronunced the marriage of Henry VIII and Ann of Cleves illegal. During the following period until 1543 Bell was engaged along with others to assist the Archbishop of Canterbury; Thomas Cranmer, with the preparation of the Kings Book. When Henry died in 1547, Edward was nine years of age, and Bell then assisted the two regents who governed in turn. When Mary Tudor came to power, John Bell was among the Protestant leaders caught in the political turmoil of her reign. In the 1556 Parliament, his son Robert Bell; afterwords MP for King's Lynn and Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, was speaking on his fathers behalf when he was lampooned in a 'lewd pasquil' as "Bell the orator". Later that year John Bell became an Oxford Martyr. R.R.L.B 2004