AYLMER, JOHN (1521-94), bishop of London, was born in 1521 at Aylmer Hall, Tivetshall St. Mary, Norfolk. About 1541 he was made chaplain to the duke of Suffolk, and tutor to his daughter, Lady Jane Grey. His first preferment was to the archdeaconry of Stow, in the diocese of Lincoln, but his opposi tion in convocation to the doctrine of transubstantiation led to his deprivation.
From exile in Switzerland he wrote a reply to John Knox's famous Blast against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, under the title of An Harborowe for Faith f ull and Trewe Subjects, etc., and assisted John Foxe in translating the Acts of the Martyrs into Latin. On the accession of Elizabeth he returned to Eng land. He was a member of the famous convocation of 1562, which reformed and settled the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England.
In 1576 he was consecrated bishop of London, and thereafter made himself notorious by his harsh treatment of all who differed from him on ecclesiastical questions, whether Puritan or Papist. He is frequently assailed in the famous Marprelate Tracts, and is characterized as "Morrell," the bad shepherd, in Spenser's Shep heard's Calendar (July). He died in June, 1594• His life was written by John Strype (17o1).