Leonard Pilkington (1527–1599) was an English academic and clergyman. A

Marian exile The Marian exiles were English Protestants who fled to continental Europe during the 1553–1558 reign of the Catholic monarchs Queen Mary I and King Philip.Christina Hallowell Garrett (1938) ''Marian Exiles: A Study in the Origins of Elizabeth ...

, he became

Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge The Regius Professorships of Divinity are amongst the oldest professorships at the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. A third chair existed for a period at Trinity College Dublin. The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by ...

and Master of

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

at the start of the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

. In his subsequent church career, he followed the way opened when his brother

James Pilkington James Pilkington may refer to: *James Pilkington (bishop) James Pilkington (1520–1576), was the first Protestantism, Protestant Bishop of Durham from 1561 until his death in 1576. He founded Rivington and Blackrod High School, Rivington Gram ...

became

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

Life

He was born at

Rivington Rivington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, and graduated B.A. at St John's College in 1544. He became a Fellow there in 1546, and graduated M.A. in 1547. When

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous ...

came to the throne, he was deprived of his college positions, and left the country. While in exile he married. He returned to England and was restored to his fellowship at St John's, his wife having died. He became Master there in 1561, replacing his brother James and initiating a period of divisive governance and an effort to reform the college by replacing Catholic associations with the Protestantism of Geneva. He brought in

William Fulke William Fulke (; 1538buried 28 August 1589) was an English Puritan divine. Life Fulke was born in London. His father was Christopher Fulke, the Common Crier and Serjeant at Arms to the Mayor of the City of London. He had a younger brother cal ...

as Fellow, and ensured the succession of Richard Longworth, and then resigned as Master. He became a canon of

Durham Cathedral Durham Cathedral, formally the , is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the Mother Church#Cathedral, mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the ...

in 1567.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilkington, Leonard 1527 births 1599 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge Masters of St John's College, Cambridge 16th-century English clergy Marian exiles Regius Professors of Divinity (University of Cambridge) English Christian religious leaders