1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Allen, John

ALLEN, JOHN (1476–1534), English divine, after studying at both Oxford and Cambridge, was sent by Archbishop Warham on an ecclesiastical mission to Rome. On his return he held a number of livings in succession, and in 1516 was rector of South Ockenden, Essex, and prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral. In the suppression of the minor monasteries in 1524–1525 he gave Wolsey much assistance, and became prebendary of Nottingham in 1526 and of St Paul’s, London, in 1527. These prebends he resigned in 1528 on his election as archbishop of Dublin. For four years he was chancellor of Ireland but his career was full of trouble. In 1531 he was fined under the Statutes of Provisors and Praemunire, and in 1534 met a violent death at the hands of Lord Thomas Fitzgerald’s followers.