Roland Lee, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry
Roland Lee (also Leigh; c.1487–1543) was a Tudor churchman whose career exemplifies the turbulent intersection of ecclesiastical office and ruthless administration during the reign of Henry VIII. Remembered both as a royal agent in the Reformation and as the notorious “Hanging Bishop” of Wales, Lee’s career reflected the darker edges of Tudor state-building.
Lee was born into the gentry of Cumberland, his family being seated at Isell.[i] He studied at Cambridge, where he received his clerical training, and after ordination benefited from the patronage of Cardinal Wolsey. Wolsey’s downfall did not ruin him; rather, Lee’s advancement accelerated through the favour of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell. By supporting the King’s divorce and religious reforms, he placed himself firmly in the centre of Tudor politics. He is believed to have officiated at Henry’s secret marriage to Anne Boleyn in January 1533,[ii] and played a prominent role in proceedings against Catherine of Aragon.
In January 1534 he was elected Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, the last to hold that title before the see came to be referred to more commonly as Chester.[iii] At his consecration, performed by Archbishop Cranmer in April of that year, Lee took the new oath of allegiance to Henry as supreme head of the Church of England rather than to the Pope - an act symbolising the break with Rome.[iv] His connections extended into noble society: he was regarded as a “cousin” of the Earl of Rutland, though during the Tudor period such kinship was often loose and his exact familial link remains obscure.[v]
Lee quickly established himself as a trusted royal servant. Though, some of his contemporaries, including Stephen Vaughan, saw him as “a papist, an idolater, and a fleshly priest.”[vi] His administrative competence, however, was undisputed, together with Stephen Gardiner and Thomas Cromwell, he proved adept at dissolving monasteries and redirecting their wealth to support Henry’s projects, such as the endowment of new educational institutions at Oxford.[vii]
In May 1534, Lee was appointed Lord President of the Council of Wales and the Marches.[viii] Following Cromwell’s orders, Lee worked to tighten royal control over what he saw as unruly regions. His rule soon gained notoriety for widespread executions. Reports that he hanged 5,000 Welshmen in just five years are almost certainly exaggerated, yet they reflect a grim truth - Lee made frequent and ruthless use of the gallows. He openly boasted of hanging men of the best blood in Shropshire, while he was later branded the “great despiser of Welshmen.” Lee’s reputation as the “Hanging Bishop” was sealed.[ix]
Lee’s episcopal duties also tied him to the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1537 he wrote to Cromwell concerning the election of a new prior at Coventry Priory,[x] and in 1539 he intervened when the mayor and aldermen of Coventry appealed against the impending destruction of their cathedral church.[xi] Lee himself forwarded their plea to Cromwell, stressing that the cathedral was his episcopal seat and urging it be converted into a college church. His letter pleaded: “My good lord, help me and the city both in this, and that the church may stand, whereby I may keep my name, and the cite have commodity.”[xii] Yet Cromwell’s commissioners pressed forward, and the priory was surrendered in January 1539, its relics catalogued with mockery and its buildings eventually demolished.[xiii]
Lee’s harsh rule in Wales made him indispensable to the Tudor regime, but it also earned him enmity. He opposed the first Act of Union in 1536, believing the Welsh could not be integrated into England,[xiv] a stance that showed both his inflexibility in politics and his strong personal bias. Nevertheless, he remained in office until his death.
Roland Lee died at Shrewsbury on 28 January 1543 and was buried at old St Chad’s Church there.[xv] His legacy was one of brutality and reform - an administrator whose zeal for enforcement left a trail of fear, yet also a bishop who fought, unsuccessfully, to preserve the dignity of his cathedral and his pride. His career reflects the many contradictions at the heart of Henry VIII’s religious reforms.
[i] Grove, J. (1748–1751). The history of the life and times of Cardinal Wolsey (Vol. 3, p. 322). Author.
[ii] Wright, T. (1843). Three chapters of letters relating to the suppression of monasteries (p. 41). Camden Society.
[iii] Ibid. (p. 41)
[iv] Perceval, A. P. (1841). An apology for the doctrine of apostolical succession: With an appendix, on the English orders (2nd ed., p. 188). Rivington.
[v] Smith, L. B. (1953). Tudor prelates and politics, 1536–1558 (p. 16). Princeton University Press.
[vi] Ibid (p. 44).
[vii] Ibid (p. 41).
[viii] Wright, T. (1843). Three chapters of letters relating to the suppression of monasteries (p. 41). Camden Society.
[ix] Jones, M. A. (2004). Lee, Rowland. In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
[x] “Houses of Benedictine Monks: Priory of Coventry,” in A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1908), British History Online, fn. 71–73.
[xi] Ibid., fn. 75.
[xii] Wright, Three Chapters of Letters, p. 238.
[xiii] “Houses of Benedictine Monks: Priory of Coventry,” ibid., fn. 76–78.
[xiv] Chisholm, H. (Ed.). (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
[xv] Jones, M. A. (2004). Lee, Rowland.