Bale

Bale, John, born in 1495, in Suffolk, and educated at Cambridge, was converted to Protestantism and received the support of Cromwell, on whose death he retired to Holland. On the accession of Edward VI. he came back to England, and in 1552 was made Bishop of Ossory. During Mary's reign he once more took refuge on the Continent, but Elizabeth got him a prebendal stall at Canterbury, where he died in 1563. He wrote a number of books, and some of the last miracle plays. His Illustrium Majoris Britannicae Scriptorum Summarium alone possesses much interest, if we except some tracts on the cases of Sir John Oldcastle and Anne Ascue.