Nicholas Felton (1556–1626) was an English academic, the Bishop of Bristol from 1617 to 1619, and then

Bishop of Ely The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with ...

Life

He was born in

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

and educated at

Pembroke Hall, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

. He was rector of

St Mary-le-Bow The Church of St Mary-le-Bow () is a Church of England parish church in the City of London, England. Located on Cheapside, one of the city's oldest thoroughfares, the church was founded in 1080, by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. Rebuilt s ...

church in London, from 1597 to 1617; and also rector at

St Antholin, Budge Row St Antholin, Budge Row, or St Antholin, Watling Street, was a church in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, following its destruction in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The 17th-centur ...

. St Antholin's was on

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England, running from Dover and London in the southeast, via St Albans to Wroxeter. The road crosses the River Thames at London and was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the M ...

, 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. He was Master at Pembroke, where he became a Fellow in 1583, from 1616 to 1619. 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 Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. Charles was born ...

supported Buckingham, and this contest became a test of strength of the religious groups, Puritan and Anglican. He employed as chaplain Edmund Calamy, who had studied at Pembroke, already dissenting from orthodox Anglican belief. His death was the occasion of an early Latin poem by

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and politic ...

.online text and translation
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Felton, Nicholas 1556 births 1626 deaths Bishops of Bristol Bishops of Ely Masters of Pembroke College, Cambridge 17th-century Church of England bishops People from Great Yarmouth Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Felton family