John Bale Bishop, English playwright Date of Birth: 21.11.1495 Country: Dive

1. Early Life and Education
2. Monastic Career and Literary Pursuits
3. Exile and Return
4. Return to England and Legacy
5. Scholarly Contributions

Early Life and Education

John Bale, born in Cove, Suffolk, was an English bishop and playwright who supported the Church of England reforms of Henry VIII. At the age of twelve, he entered a Carmelite monastery near Norwich. He pursued his studies at Jesus College, Cambridge, and obtained a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1529.

Monastic Career and Literary Pursuits

Bale became the last prior of the Carmelite monastery in Ipswich in 1533. However, he soon renounced his monastic vows and married. He resided in Thorndon, Suffolk, under the patronage of Thomas Cromwell, who valued his dramatic works that denounced the Roman Catholic Church.

Exile and Return

After Cromwell's execution in 1540, Bale and his family fled to Flanders. He returned upon the accession of Edward VI and settled in Bishopstoke, Hampshire. In 1552, he was appointed Bishop of Ossory, a diocese in southern central Ireland.

With the reign of Queen Mary and the persecution of Protestants, Bale was forced to leave England. His attempt to reach Scotland failed, resulting in his arrest for suspected treason. He narrowly escaped a second arrest in Dover and sought refuge in Frankfurt and later Basel. During his exile, he dedicated himself to literature.

Return to England and Legacy

Bale returned to England under Elizabeth I. His plays, known as morality plays, vigorously attacked the Catholic Church, its officials, and monks. His language was often harsh, but it did not diminish the artistic merit of his works. Only five of Bale's plays survive, and the titles of others are known through a list he compiled.

"King John" (c. 1538), Bale's most famous play, marked a transition from morality plays to English historical drama. It featured both allegorical figures and historical characters. While it is not known to have directly influenced the history plays of the late sixteenth century, its attempt to dramatize English history was notable.

Bale also advocated for religious debates in his play "Interlude of God's Providence" (1538). He was one of the few sixteenth-century playwrights who divided his works into acts.

Scholarly Contributions

Beyond his plays, Bale's most significant work was "Illustrium majoris Britanniae scriptorum, hoc est, Angliae, Cambriae, ac Scotiae Summarium..." (1548–49). This catalog of British authors and their writings drew from John Leland's "Collectanea and Commentarii." Bale's assiduous research and personal investigations of monastic libraries before their dissolution preserved valuable information that would have otherwise been lost.