Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nicolls, Benedict
NICOLLS, BENEDICT (d. 1433), bishop of St. David's, is described by Godwin as a bachelor of laws; he was rector of ‘Staplebridge in the diocese of Salisbury’ (? Stapleford, Wiltshire) in 1408, when he was made bishop of Bangor by papal bull dated 18 April; he received the temporalities on 22 July, and spiritualities on 10 Aug. In 1410 he was one of those who tried and condemned the lollard John Badby [q. v.], and in 1413 was assessor to the Archbishop of Canterbury when Sir John Oldcastle [q. v.] was tried and excommunicated. Next year he appears as a trier of petitions from Gascony and parts beyond sea. On 17 Dec. 1418 he was transferred to St. David's in succession to Stephen Patrington [q. v.]; he made his profession of obedience to the Archbishop of Canterbury on 12 Feb. following, and had the temporalities restored on 1 June. In 1419 he was guarantee for a loan to the king (Rolls of Parl. iv. 117 b; in the index Nicolls is confused both with a predecessor at St. David's, John Catrick, and his successor, Thomas Rodburn [q. v.]). In 1425 he was one of those appointed to determine the claim of precedence between the earls marshal and Warwick; in 1427 he was present at the opening of parliament, when Henry Chichele [q. v.], archbishop of Canterbury, preached against the statute of provisors, and in the following year subscribed to the answer which parliament returned to Gloucester defining his position as protector (cf. Stubbs, Const. Hist. iii. 107). In 1429 he was again a trier of petitions. He died on 25 June 1433, and was buried in St. David's Cathedral, where he had founded a chantry. His will, made on 14 June 1433, was proved on 14 Aug. following.
[Rolls of Parl. vol. iv.; Netter's Fasciculi Zizaniorum (Rolls Ser.), pp. 414, 442, 447; Elmhami Liber Metricus (Rolls Ser.), p. 162; Wilkins's Concilia, iii. 351–7; Foxe's Acts and Mon. iii. 235, 329, 336, 346–7; Burnet's Hist. of Reformation, ed. Pocock, i. 189, iv. 159–60; Godwin, De Præsulibus Angliæ, ed. Richardson, pp. 583, 623; Gams's Series Episcoporum; Brady's Episcopal Succession; Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy, i. 101, 296; Jones and Freeman's History of St. David's, pp. 102, 123, 307; Stubbs's Registrum Sacrum and Constitutional History, iii. 79, 107.]