Legh, Rowland

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Legh, Rowland (d. 1543). Bishop. Legh came from Northumberland and was educated at Cambridge. After he had taken holy orders he was fortunate to come under the patronage of two powerful men, Wolsey and Thomas Cromwell. He was much employed in the early visitations of monasteries and priories and in negotiations about Henry VIII's divorce. In 1534 he was made bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and a little later was appointed president of the Council in the Marches of Wales. It was a task which he approached with vigour and which preoccupied him for the rest of his life. He survived the fall of Thomas Cromwell in 1540 and died in harness at Shrewsbury.

J. A. Cannon