The Reformation in the Diocese of Ely during the Episcopate of Richard Cox, 1559-77

Abstract

Richard Cox, a former Marian exile and the first Elizabethan bishop of Ely (1559-81), was a serious-minded Protestant reformer who successfully sought to implement the new religion in this formerly Catholic area. Using the diocesan machinery of the late medieval church, Cox imposed Protestant thought and practice upon the parishes of Ely in his ongoing effort to create a reformed church that was reminiscent of the best Protestant churches on the Continent. Beginning with an intentional strategy to reform the clergy and then the laity, Cox took an active personal role in the management of his diocese. When he arrived in Ely in early 1560, he found it in disrepair but immediately used his episcopal authority to implement change. Although Ely never became a hotbed of radical reform, by the end of his tenure in 1581 Cox had turned the diocese into a functionally Protestant region.