Hugh Inge

Hugh Inge or Ynge(c. 1460 – 3 August 1528) was an English-born judge and prelate in sixteenth century Ireland who held the offices of Bishop of Meath, Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.

Inge was born at Shepton Mallet in Somerset. Not much seems to be known about his parents, except that they are said to have destined him for a career in the Church from an early age. He was educated at Winchester College and became a fellow of New College, Oxford in 1484 and a Doctor of Divinity in 1511. He held a number of minor benefices in England including the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Westonzoyland from 1508. After traveling for a time around Europe, he became attached to the household of Adriano Castellesi, the Italian-born Bishop of Bath and Wells, and went with him to Rome in 1504. In about 1511 he came to the notice of Cardinal Wolsey, who recognised his gifts and advanced his career: he later admitted that he owed to Wolsey everything he enjoyed, and that "without him I had no comfort in this world".

In 1512, through Wolsey's influence, he was made Bishop of Meath. There then seems to have been a quarrel between the two leading to a brief estrangement, since in 1514 Inge wrote to Wolsey imploring him not to "cast him away". The quarrel must have been short-lived, and Inge followed the same career path as William Rokeby, whom he succeeded both as Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1521. He was a popular and respected figure in Ireland, and enjoyed the friendship of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, the dominant statesman in Irish politics for many years.

Inge carried out extensive repairs to the episcopal palace of St. Sepulchre; his name is commemorated in Hugh Inge's door, which was restored in the eighteenth century; a few fragments of the door were discovered during excavations some years ago, at present-day Kevin Street. The door was described as having an unusual three-centred head.

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