Nicholas Felton (bishop)

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Nicholas Felton (1556–1626) was an English academic, the Bishop of Bristol from 1617 to 1619,^[1] and then Bishop of Ely.

Life

He was born in Great Yarmouth and educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge.^[2] He was rector of St Mary-le-Bow church in London, from 1597 to 1617; and also rector at St Antholin, Budge Row.^[3] St Antholin's was on Watling Street, and it has been suggested that the 1606 play The Puritan, or the Widow of Watling Street alludes to Felton through the name Nicholas St Antlings of one of the Widow's serving men.^[4]

He was Master at Pembroke, where he became a Fellow in 1583, from 1616 to 1619.^[5] In university politics, he conspicuously supported Thomas Howard, Earl of Berkshire, against George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, in an election for the position of Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, in 1626. King Charles I of England supported Buckingham, and this contest became a test of strength of the religious groups, Puritan and Anglican.^[6] He employed as chaplain Edmund Calamy, who had studied at Pembroke, already dissenting from orthodox Anglican belief.^[7]

His death was the occasion of an early Latin poem by John Milton.^[8]^[9]^[10]

^ Bishops of Bristol
^ "Felton, Nicholas (FLTN577N)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ St Mary le Bow Church
^ Swapan Chakravorty, Society and Politics in the Plays of Thomas Middleton (1996), p. 63.
^ Pembroke College
^ William Riley Parker, revised Gordon Campbell, Milton: A Biography (1996), p. 36.
^ Profiles in Puritanism William Barker Archived 2008-10-12 at the Wayback Machine ^{[dead link‍]}
^ Thomas N. Corns, A Companion to Milton (2001), p. 111.
^ Graham Parry, The Arts of the Anglican Counter-Reformation: Glory, Laud and Honour (2006), p. 154.
^ online text and translation

Academic offices
Preceded by Samuel Harsnett	Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge 1616–1619	Succeeded by Jerome Beale
Church of England titles
Preceded by John Thornborough	Bishop of Bristol 1617–1619	Succeeded by Rowland Searchfield
Preceded by Lancelot Andrewes	Bishop of Ely 1619–1626	Succeeded by John Buckeridge

v t e Bishops of Bristol
For the sole Bishop suffragan of Bristol, see Henry Holbeach
Bristol (1542)	Paul Bush John Holyman Richard Cheyney John Bullingham Richard Fletcher John Thornborough Nicholas Felton Rowland Searchfield Robert Wright George Coke Robert Skinner Thomas Westfield Thomas Howell Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Gilbert Ironside (Er) Guy Carleton William Gulston John Lake Gilbert Ironside (Yr) John Hall John Robinson George Smalridge Hugh Boulter William Bradshaw Charles Cecil Thomas Secker Thomas Gooch Joseph Butler John Conybeare John Hume Philip Yonge Thomas Newton Lewis Bagot Christopher Wilson Spencer Madan Reginald Courtenay Folliott Cornewall George Pelham John Luxmoore William Lort Mansel John Kaye Robert Gray Joseph Allen Diocese dissolved; see Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol
Bristol (1897)	George Forrest Browne George Nickson Clifford Woodward Frederick Cockin Oliver Tomkins John Tinsley Barry Rogerson Mike Hill Lee Rayfield (acting) Vivienne Faull

v t e Bishops of Ely
High Medieval	Hervey le Breton Nigel Geoffrey Ridel William de Longchamp Eustace Robert of York John of Fountains Geoffrey de Burgh Hugh of Northwold William of Kilkenny Hugh de Balsham John Kirkby William of Louth John Salmon/John Langton Ralph Walpole
Late Medieval	Robert Orford John Ketton John Hotham Simon Montacute Thomas de Lisle Simon Langham John Barnet Thomas Arundel John Fordham Philip Morgan Lewis of Luxembourg Thomas Bourchier William Grey John Morton John Alcock
Early modern	Richard Redman James Stanley Nicholas West Thomas Goodrich Thomas Thirlby Richard Cox Martin Heton Lancelot Andrewes Nicholas Felton John Buckeridge Francis White Matthew Wren Episcopacy abolished (Commonwealth) Matthew Wren Benjamin Lany Peter Gunning Francis Turner Simon Patrick John Moore William Fleetwood Thomas Green Robert Butts Thomas Gooch Matthias Mawson Edmund Keene James Yorke
Late modern	Thomas Dampier Bowyer Sparke Joseph Allen Thomas Turton Harold Browne James Woodford Lord Alwyne Compton Frederic Chase Leonard White-Thomson Bernard Heywood Edward Wynn Noel Hudson Edward Roberts Peter Walker Stephen Sykes Anthony Russell Stephen Conway

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International	ISNI VIAF
National	United States