St John Fisher

Abstract

John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, noted throughout his life for his saintliness and learning, while still a young man rose to great prominence as a churchman and educationalist. He was born in Beverley, Yorkshire, in 1469?, the son of Robert and Agnes Fisher. His father was a middle-class mercer and died when John, the youngest of his four children, was a year old. After attending the grammar school, attached to the collegiate church of St John in Beverley, Fisher entered Michaelhouse, Cambridge, where he came under the direction of William de Melton, theologian and preacher of Yorkshire, whom he greatly revered. In 1487 he took a Bachelor of Arts degree, and four years later, a Master of Arts.