Allen, John

Allen, John chancellor of Ireland, was born in 1476, was educated at Oxford, and took his bachelor's degree at Cambridge. He soon obtained several benefices, and was sent by Archbishop Warham to Rome on ecclesiastical affairs; he spent nine years there; and, on his return, Wolsey made him his chaplain. He was made archbishop of Dublin in 1528, and soon after chancellor. He was an active assistant of Cardinal Wolsey in the spoliation of the religious houses, and was a learned canonist. Allen was murdered by Thomas Fitzgerald, son of the earl of Kildare, July 28, 1534, and his death was regarded by the people as a divine judgment upon him for having been instrumental in the destruction of forty monasteries. He wrote Epist. de

Pallii Significatione, and other pieces relating to ecclesiastical subjects. — Biog. Univ. tom. 1, p. 590; Rose, Biog. Dictionary; Landon, Eccles. Dict. s.v.; Wood, Athenoe Oxonienses.