Beverley, John of

Beverley, John of a celebrated English ecclesiastic of the 7th and 8th centuries. He was one of the first scholars of his age, having been instructed in the learned languages by Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury, and he was himself tutor of the Venerable Bede. The following works are attributed to him:

1. Pro Luca Exponendo, an essay toward an exposition of St. Luke, addressed to Bede: — 2. Homiliae in Evangelia: — 3. Epistolae ad Herebaldum, Andenum, et Bertinum: 4. Epistolae ad Holdam Abbatissam.

He was advanced to the see of Haguetold, or Hexham, by Alfred, king of Northumberland; and on the death of Bosa, archbishop of York, in 687, he was translated to the vacant see. In 704 he founded a college at Beverley for secular priests. In 717 he retired from his archiepiscopal functions to Beverley, where he died, May 7th, 721. Fuller, Worthies; Engl. Cyclopaedia.