ALCOCK, JOHN (c. 1430-1500), English divine, was born at
Beverley in Yorkshire and educated at Cambridge. In 1461 he was
made dean of Westminster, and henceforward his promotion was rapid
in church and state. In the following year he was made master
of the rolls, and in 1470 was sent as ambassador to the court of
Castile. He was consecrated bishop of Rochester in 1472 and was
successively translated to the sees of Worcester (1476) and Ely
(1486). He twice held the office of lord chancellor, and
exhibited great ability in the negotiations with James III. of
Scotland. He died at Wisbech Castle on the 1st of October
1500. Alcock was one of the most eminent pre-Reformation
divines; he was a man of deep learning and also of great
proficiency as an architect. Besides founding a charity
at Beverley and a grammar school at Kingston-upon-Hull, he
restored many churches and colleges; but his greatest enterprise
was the erection of Jesus College, Cambridge, which he
established on the site of the former Convent of St Radigund.
Alcock's published writings, most of which are extremely
rare, are:
Mons Perfectionis, or the Hill of Perfection
(London, 1497)
Gallicontus Johannis Alcock episcopi
Eliensis ad frates suos curatos in sinodo apud Barnwell
(1498), a good specimen of early English printing and quaint
illustrations
The Castle of Labour, translated from the French
(1536), and various other tracts and homilies.
See J. Bass
Mullinger's Hist. of the University of Cambridge, vol. i.
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