article_title name occupation
john ashwell
 john ashwell prior
john ashwell

john ashwell -lrb- died 1541 -rrb- , was the prior of newnham abbey , in bedfordshire .
ashwell was best known for his opposition to the principles of the reformation , was a graduate of cambridge university .
in 1504 it is probable that ashwell , who was then a bachelor of divinity , became rector of mistley in essex , and held in subsequent years the benefices of littlebury and halstead in the same county .
in 1515 we know him to have been appointed chaplain to lord abergavenny 's troops in france -lrb- brewer 's letters of henry viii , ii .
part i. 137 -rrb- , and six years later a prebendal stall in st. paul 's cathedral was conferred upon him .
he became prior of newnham abbey about 1527 .
in the same year he addressed a secret letter , written partly in latin and partly in english , to john longland , the bishop of lincoln , bitterly complaining of the heretical opinions held by george joye , a bold advocate of lutheranism , with whom he had lived on terms of great intimacy joye , george .
the epistle unhappily fell into joye 's hands , and the reformer withdrew to strasburg to escape the effects of the bishop 's displeasure .
