George Cotes  | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Chester | |
| Church | Roman Catholic | 
| Installed | 6 July 1554 | 
| Term ended | 1556 | 
| Predecessor | John Bird | 
| Successor | Cuthbert Scott | 
| Orders | |
| Consecration | 1 April 1554 by Edmund Bonner  | 
| Personal details | |
| Died | 1556 | 
| Coat of arms | ![]()  | 

George Cotes (or Cotys, Coates) (died 1556) was an English academic and Catholic Bishop of Chester during the English Reformation.
He had been a Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford in 1522,[2] and then became a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1527.[3] He was Junior Proctor of Oxford University in 1531.[4] It was some years before he was elected Master of Balliol College, in which post he served in the years 1539–1545.[3]
With the accession of Queen Mary, he was chosen to succeed the former Carmelite John Bird, who had been deprived because he was married, as Bishop of Chester.[5] Cotes was consecrated on 1 April 1554 by bishops Stephen Gardiner of Winchester, Edmund Bonner of London, and Cuthbert Tunstall of Durham, and received papal provision on 6 July 1554.[5] However, he held the post for only a short period of time before he died in c. January 1556.[5]
During the Marian Persecutions he had Protestant George Marsh burnt at the stake as a heretic.[6]
Notes
- ↑ "The Armorial Bearings of the Bishops of Chester". Cheshire Heraldry Society. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
 - ↑ Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Colericke-Coverley
 - 1 2 Masters of Balliol. Balliol College Archives & Manuscripts . Retrieved on 10 July 2016.
 - ↑ Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Colericke-Coverley
 - 1 2 3 Bishops of Chester. British History Online. Retrieved on 10 July 2016.
 - ↑ John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Retrieved on 10 July 2016.
 
References
- F. Sanders, 'George Cotes, Master of Balliol and Bishop of Chester', in Notes and Queries 1894 series 8-V (1894) 48–49.
 - F. Huskisson & E. Marshall, 'George Cotes, Master of Balliol and Bishop of Chester', in Notes and Queries series 8-V (1894) 153.