John Penny (died 1520) was an English

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

, successively

Bishop of Bangor The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Diocese of Bangor of the Church in Wales. The Episcopal see, see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is at Bangor Cathedral, Cathedral Church of Sa ...

, 1504–1508, and

Bishop of Carlisle The Bishop of Carlisle is the Ordinary (officer), Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the Province of York. The diocese covers the county of Cumbria except for Alston Moor and the former Sedbergh Rural District. The Episcop ...

, 1508–1520. He was also Prior to Bradley Priory 1503–1508.

Career

His education is uncertain, though he may have been educated at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Flemin ...

, and later received his LLD from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

.T. Y. Cocks
‘Penny, John (d. 1520)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004 He is first recorded as a canon of

Leicester Abbey The Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis, more commonly known as Leicester Abbey, was an Augustinian religious house in the city of Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. The abbey was founded in the 12th century by the Robert de Beaumont, 2nd E ...

in 1477. From 1496–1509 he was Abbot of Leicester and in around 1500 built the boundary wall, Abbot Penny's Wall, which is now named after him. In 1520, Penny died at

, where he had earlier been the abbot, and was buried at St Margaret's Church in Leicester. The church contains his

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

effigy, although the rest of the tomb was replaced in 1846.

References

Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Cambridge Bishops of Bangor Bishops of Carlisle 16th-century English bishops Year of birth unknown 15th-century births 1520 deaths {{England-bishop-stub