Andrew Perne

Andrew Perne (c. 1519 – 26 April 1589), Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University and dean of Ely, was the son of John Perne of East Bilney, Norfolk.

Perne was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1539, BD in 1547 and DD in 1552. He was elected fellow of St John's in 1540, but moved to Queens' later that year. He was successively bursar and dean of Queens', culminating in becoming vice-president in 1551, and was five times vice-chancellor of the university. Scurrilous Puritans said he had once been the homosexual lover of John Whitgift, later Archbishop of Canterbury, with whom he went to live in old age at Lambeth Palace. But he owes his notoriety to his remarkable versatility, and, like the Vicar of Bray, he was always faithful to the national religion, whatever it might be.

In April 1547 he advocated Catholic doctrines, but recanted two months later, and his Protestant faith was strengthened during Edward VI's reign; he was appointed a royal chaplain and canon of Windsor. Soon after Mary's accession, however, he perceived the error of his ways and was made Master of Peterhouse in 1553 and Dean of Ely in 1557.

He preached the sermon in 1557 when the bodies of Bucer and Fagius were disinterred in Cambridge and burnt for heresy, and also, remarkably, in 1560 when these proceedings were reversed and the dead heretics were rehabilitated. In Elizabeth's reign he subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles, denounced the pope and tried to convert Abbot Feckenham to Protestantism; and in 1584 Whitgift in vain recommended him for a bishopric.

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