Nicholas Metcalfe
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
Nicholas Metcalfe (died 1539) was an English churchman and college head.
Life
He graduated B.A., possibly from Michaelhouse, Cambridge, in 1494/5, became M.A. in 1498, B.D. in 1503/4 and D.D. in 1506/7.{{acad|id=MTCF494N|name=Metcalfe, Nicholas}} He was Archdeacon of Rochester from 1512. He was also prebendary of Lincoln, and rector of Woodham Ferrers.{{Cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53800|title=The city and liberty of Rochester: The diocese, bishops and archdeacons | British History Online}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=32725|title=Archdeacons: Rochester | British History Online}}
He was master of St. John's College, Cambridge from 1518. He built up the endowments: Metcalfe was in close touch with John Fisher, his bishop in the Diocese of Rochester and as executor to Lady Margaret Beaufort a major force behind the foundation of St. John's. Through Fisher St John's in 1524 took over property from run-down nunneries, at Bromhall in Berkshire and Lillechurch (Higham) in Kent. Another Kent property Fisher obtained was that of a hospital at Ospringe.David Knowles, The Religious Orders in England vol. III (1971), p. 157.{{Cite web|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27320/27320-h/27320-h.htm#Page_42|title = The Project Gutenberg eBook of St. John's College, Cambridge by Robert Forsyth Scott}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=53777|title=General history: Religious houses | British History Online}}
A steady Catholic and opponent of Hugh Latimer, Metcalfe was later praised across the religious divide by Roger Ascham for his concern for learning and its encouragement. He opposed the divorce of Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon. In the end, by 1536, he conformed to the new church settlement. He was still compelled to resign as Master in 1537.Concise Dictionary of National Biography{{cite web |url=http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/johnfoxe/apparatus/person_glossaryM.html |title=John Foxe's Book of Martyrs |accessdate=2009-06-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516135137/http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/johnfoxe/apparatus/person_glossaryM.html |archivedate=2011-05-16 }}Maria Dowling, Humanism in the Age of Henry VIII (1986), p. 91 and p. 99.Laurence V. Ryan, Roger Ascham (1963), p. 31.
Notes
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box |
before=Alan Percy |
title=Master of St John's College, Cambridge |
years=1518–1537 |
after=George Day
}}
{{end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalfe, Nicholas}}
Category:16th-century English Roman Catholic priests
Category:Archdeacons of Rochester
Category:Alumni of the University of Cambridge
Category:Masters of St John's College, Cambridge