Gardiner, Stephen

Gardiner, Stephen ( c. 1490 – 1555 )
Bishop of Winchester ( 1531 – 51 ; 1553 – 55 ). A protégé of Thomas Wolsey , he assisted in the negotiations to secure Henry VIII 's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. He defended the royal supremacy over the Church, most notably in De Vera Obedientia ( 1535 ), but was opposed to Protestantism. Under Edward VI he was imprisoned ( 1548 – 53 ) and deprived of his see. Mary I restored him to Winchester, made him Lord Chancellor, and relied on him until his death.