Life

Born at Conwy

Conwy

Conwy is a walled market town and community in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales. The town, which faces Deganwy across the River Conwy, formerly lay in Gwynedd and prior to that in Caernarfonshire. Conwy has a population of 14,208...

 in North Wales, he was the second son of John Robinson, by his wife Ellin, daughter of William Brickdale. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College, Cambridge

Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...

, where he matriculated in 1545 as a sizar

Sizar

At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is a student who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined job....

, proceeded B.A. in 1548, and was a fellow from 1548 to 1563. In 1551 he commenced M.A., was bursar of his own college in 1551-3, and a proctor in the university for 1552, dean of his college 1577-8, and vice-president of his college in 1561. Plays written by him were acted at Queens' College in 1550, 1552, and 1553, the last being a comedy entitled Strylius. In 1555 he subscribed the Roman catholic articles. He was ordained at Bangor by William Glynn, first as acolyte and sub-dean on 12 March 1557, then deacon on the 13th, and priest on the 14th, under a special faculty from Cardinal Pole.

On 20 December 1559 Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker

Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....

 licensed him to preach throughout his province, and he was then, or about that time, appointed one of his chaplains. He proceeded at Cambridge B.D. in 1560 and D.D. in 1566. A sermon preached by him at St. Paul's Cross in December 1561 was commended by Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal

Edmund Grindal was an English church leader who successively held the posts of Bishop of London, Archbishop of York and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I of England.-Early life to the death of Edward VI:...

. After this preferment came quickly. He was appointed on 13 December 1561 to the rectory of Shepperton

Shepperton

Shepperton is a town in the borough of Spelthorne, Surrey, England. To the south it is bounded by the river Thames at Desborough Island and is bisected by the M3 motorway...

 in Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

; on 16 June 1562 to the archdeaconry of Merioneth; and on 26 August of the same year to the sinecure rectory of Northop

Northop

Northop is a small village situated in Flintshire, Wales, approximately 12 miles west of the city of Chester, mid-way between Mold and Flint, and situated just off junction 33 of the A55 North Wales Expressway. At the 2001 Census, the population of Northop was 2,983.The village is home to two...

 in Flintshire

Flintshire

Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...

. He also became rector of Witney

Witney

Witney is a town on the River Windrush, west of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England.The place-name 'Witney' is first attested in a Saxon charter of 969 as 'Wyttannige'; it appears as 'Witenie' in the Domesday Book of 1086. The name means 'Witta's island'....

 in Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....

. By right of his archdeaconry he sat in the convocation of 1562-3, when he subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles

Thirty-Nine Articles

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion are the historically defining statements of doctrines of the Anglican church with respect to the controversies of the English Reformation. First established in 1563, the articles served to define the doctrine of the nascent Church of England as it related to...

, and voted against the defeated proposal which was made for modification in rites and ceremonies. In 1564 he also subscribed the bishops' propositions concerning ecclesiastical dress, and wrote Tractatus de vestium usu in sacris. He was at Cambridge during Queen Elizabeth's visit in August 1564, and prepared an account of it in Latin; a similar account was written by him of the queen's visit to Oxford in 1566. He was one of the Lent preachers before the queen in 1565.

Robinson was elected bishop of Bangor, in succession to Rowland Meyrick

Rowland Meyrick

-Life:Born at Bodargan in the parish of Llangadwaladr, Anglesey, in 1505, he was the second son of Meyric ab Llewelyn ab Heylin, by Margaret daughter of Rowland ab Hywl, rector of Aberffraw in the same county. He was named after his maternal grandfather, and educated at St Edward Hall, Oxford. He...

, after much deliberation on the part of the archbishop, under a license attested at Cambridge on 30 July 1566. He also held in commendam the archdeaconry of Merioneth, and the rectories of Witney, Northop, and Shepperton. The archdeaconry he resigned in 1573 in favour of his kinsman, Humphrey Robinson, but he took instead the archdeaconry of Anglesey, which he held until his death. He resigned Shepperton about November 1574.

For the next few years Robinson acted against the non-Protestant customs in his diocese. On 7 October 1567 he wrote to Sir William Cecil, noticing the use of images, altars, pilgrimages, and vigils. On 23 April 1571 he was acting as one of the commissioners for ecclesiastical causes at Lambeth, and in the convocation held that year he subscribed the English translation of the Thirty-nine Articles and the book of Canons. About 1581 he was still suspected of Catholic tendencies; on 28 May 1582 he wrote two letters, one to Francis Walsingham

Francis Walsingham

Sir Francis Walsingham was Principal Secretary to Elizabeth I of England from 1573 until 1590, and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Walsingham is frequently cited as one of the earliest practitioners of modern intelligence methods both for espionage and for domestic security...

 and the other to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester

Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, KG was an English nobleman and the favourite and close friend of Elizabeth I from her first year on the throne until his death...

, justifying himself.

He died on 13 February 1585, and was buried on the 17th in Bangor Cathedral

Bangor Cathedral

Bangor Cathedral is an ancient place of Christian worship situated in Bangor, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Saint Deiniol....

 on the south side of the high altar. His effigy and arms were delineated in brass, but the figure had been removed at the time of Browne Willis

Browne Willis

Browne Willis was an antiquary, author, numismatist and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1705 to 1708.-Early life:...

's survey in 1720.

Works

Robinson made a collection on Welsh history, which was formerly preserved in the Hengwrt Library. He sent to Archbishop Parker a copy of part of Eadmer

Eadmer

Eadmer, or Edmer , was an English historian, theologian, and ecclesiastic. He is known for being a contemporary biographer of his contemporary archbishop and companion, Saint Anselm, in his Vita Anselmi, and for his Historia novorum in Anglia, which presents the public face of Anselm...

's history. He translated into Latin a life of Gruffydd ab Cynan from an old Welsh text at Gwydyr; the text and translation were edited by the Rev. Robert Williams for the Archaeologia Cambrensis for 1866. William Morgan

William Morgan (Bible translator)

William Morgan was Bishop of Llandaff and of St Asaph, and the translator of the first version of the whole Bible into Welsh from Greek and Hebrew.-Life:...

, in the dedication of his Welsh version of the bible (published in 1588), acknowledges assistance from a bishop of Bangor, presumed to be Robinson.

Family

Robinson married Jane, daughter of Randal Brereton, by Mary, daughter of Sir William Griffith of Penrhyn, chamberlain of North Wales, and by her he had numerous sons, including Hugh, and William, his eldest, whose son was John Robinson (1617–1681) the royalist.