John Bale

John Bale 1495-1563, English dramatist and clergyman. An ardent proponent of the Reformation, he used the stage as a vehicle for his views. His most famous play, King John (written c.1535), shows the transition from the medieval morality play to the Renaissance historical drama by allegorical treatment of the fate of England rather than of the fate of man's soul. Bale's Illustrium … Scriptorum (1548) is one of the first bibliographies of English literature.

Bibliography: See H. McCusker, John Bale, Dramatist and Antiquary (1942, repr. 1971); L. P. Fairfield, John Bale: Mythmaker for the English Reformation (1976).

Bale, John (1495–1563), is notable in the history of the drama as having written King John, the first English historical play, or at least a bridge between the morality and the historical play proper.

Bale, John (1495–1563), Bp. of Ossory. A Carmelite from the age of 11, he was converted to Protestantism c.1533. He then defended the Reformation, writing earthily Protestant plays. In 1552, when nominated Bp. of Ossory, he aroused controversy by refusing to be consecrated by the traditional rite and insisting on the use of the BCP. Genuine, if partisan, scholarship is reflected in his Illustrium Maioris Britanniae Scriptorum … Summarium (1548), a pioneering attempt at British bibliography.