John Alen

John Alen (1476 – 28 July, 1534) was an English canon lawyer, Archbishop of Dublin, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who was murdered during the Rebellion of "Silken Thomas" Fitzgerald.

He was born in Coltishall, Norfolk. The Alans were a numerous clan and six of his cousins settled in Ireland including his namesake John Alan, who was Lord Chancellor in his turn, and Thomas Alen of Kilteel, Clerk of the Hanaper. He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge, graduated in the latter place, and spent some years in Italy, partly at Rome, for studies and for business of Archbishop Warham of Canterbury. He was ordained priest 25 August 1499, and held various parochial benefices until 1522, about which time he attracted the attention of Cardinal Wolsey, whose helpful commissary he was in the matter of the suppression of the minor monasteries. As such, his conduct, says James Gairdner, "gave rise to considerable outcry, and complaints were made about it to the king".

He continued to receive ecclesiastical advancement, assisted Wolsey in his legatine functions, among other things in the suit instituted by the cardinal against Henry VIII in May, 1527, by which it was sought at first to have the marriage with Catharine of Aragon declared invalid without her knowledge. In the summer of the same year he accompanied the cardinal on his mission to France, and finally (August, 1528) was rewarded with the archepiscopal see of Dublin.

Soon after his arrival he was invested with the Chancellorship. For a short time until Wolsey's downfall Alen was a dominant figure in the Irish administration, forming one of an "inner council of three" on the Privy Council of Ireland. In 1532, Alan was relieved of the office of Chancellor through the influence of Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare.

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