John Howson ( – 6 February 1632) was an English academic and bishop.

Life

He was born in the London parish of

St Bride's Church St Bride's Church is a church in the City of London, England. The building's most recent incarnation was designed by Sir Christopher Wren in 1672 in Fleet Street in the City of London, though Wren's original building was largely gutted by fire d ...

, and educated at St Paul's School. He was a student and then a canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

in 1602.

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until h ...

appointed him to Chelsea College. He became rector of

Brightwell Baldwin Brightwell Baldwin is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about northeast of Wallingford. It was historically in the Hundred of Ewelme and is now in the District of South Oxfordshire. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population ...

in 1608. Conflicts in Oxford with

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

clergy led to his being accused in 1615 before the King of

popery The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox ...

, by George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was able to convince the King that the charges were misplaced, and began to rise in the hierarchy, where he was an influe