William Allen (cardinal)

Cardinal William Allen
Librarian of the Vatican
Orders
Ordination	1565
Created Cardinal	7 August 1587
Rank	Cardinal priest of Ss. Silvestro e Martino ai Monti
Personal details
Born	1532 Rossall, near Fleetwood, Lancashire, England
Died	16 October 1594 (aged 62) Rome
Buried	Church of St Thomas of Canterbury at the English College, Rome
Nationality	English
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Parents	John Allen

William Allen (1532 – 16 October 1594), was an English Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Allen assisted in the planning of the Spanish Armada's attempted invasion of England, and would likely have been made Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor had it been successful. The Douai-Rheims Bible was printed under Allen's orders. His activities were part of the Catholic Counter Reformation, but they made matters worse for Roman Catholics in England and in Ireland. He advised and recommended Pope Pius V to "depose" Elizabeth I. After her Sentence of Excommunication and "Deposition" from the Pope, Elizabeth chose not to continue with her policy of religious tolerance, and instead began the persecution of her Catholic religious opponents.

Allen was born in 1532, at Rossall, near Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. He was the third son of John Allen. In 1547, at the age of fifteen, he entered Oriel College, Oxford, graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1550, and was elected to the Fellowship of the College. In 1554, he became a Master of Arts, and two years later, in 1556, was made Principal and Proctor of the then Saint Mary's Hall.

He seems also to have been a canon at York Minster in or about 1558, indicating that he had most likely received tonsure, the initial step towards ordination that conferred clerical status. Upon the accession of Elizabeth I, and the second schism of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church, he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, but was allowed to remain at the University of Oxford, until 1561.

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