dal, p. 316, bk. ii. ch. 7). He was raised to the episcopate in 1581, being consecrated in 3 Sept. of that year at Croydon to the see of Gloucester (Strype, Grindal, p. 397, bk. ii. ch. 12). He was allowed to hold the recently created bishopric of Bristol in commendam as well as the prebend of Norton in Hereford Cathedral, to which he was installed 16 Jan. 1582. He held the see of Bristol till the appointment of Fletcher, at whose consecration he assisted, 14 Dec. 1589 (Strype, Whitgift, i. 617, bk. iv. ch. 1). The rectory of Kilmington, in the county of Somerset, was given him in compensation for the loss of the second bishopric and his Hereford stall. He served as commissioner for the confirmation of Whitgift's election as archbishop, 27 Aug. 1583 (Strype, Whitgift, bk. ii. ch. 2), and in 1584 was commissioned by the new primate to visit his own diocese of Gloucester metropolitically (ib. bk. iii. ch. 12, i. 410). When the see of Oxford fell vacant in 1592, Aylmer, then bishop of London, at his request unsuccessfully endeavoured to obtain it for Bullingham, pleading that 'it was very fit for him from the nearness of the place and to make some addition to his poor portion' (Strype, Aylmer, p. 110). Bullingham died at Kensington 20 May 1598, and was, according to some authorities, buried in his own cathedral.
Bullingham does not appear to have been conspicuous either for learning or refinement. On this ground as well as for his tardy conversion to the protestant faith he became the object of the scurrilous attacks of 'Martin Mar-Prelate.' Among other choice epithets lavished upon him by that foul-mouthed satirist we find him termed 'a mass-monger,' an 'old papist priest,' one whom 'beef and brewis' had made a papist, and an 'old steal-counter mass-priest' (Epistle to the Terrible Priests, pp. 41, 60, 63; Hay, any work for a Cooper, pp. 10, 34, Petheram's edition). This low estimate of Bullingham's learning and ability is fully borne out by a letter from Archbishop Parker to Sir W. Cecil, 2 Feb. 1571, in which he describes him as 'an honest true-meaning man,' whom, 'on the credit of others much commending him,' he had once appointed to preach before the queen, but he would never do so again since he 'had perceived in him neither "pronunciationem aulicam" nor "ingenium aulicum," not meet for the court' (Strype, Parker, ii. 400, bk. iv. ch. 1; Parker Correspondence, pp. 318, 378).
The only works attributed to Bullingham are 'a translation of John Venerus's oration in defence of the Sacrament of the Aultare,' 1554, 8vo, and the letter above referred to, containing an account of Julius Palmer the martyr, printed in Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments,' iii. 616, ed. 1784.
[Godwin, De Praesul. ii. 133; Wood's Athenae. ii. 842; Boase's Register of Univ. of Oxford, p. 325; Le Neve's Fasti, ll. cc.; Strype's Parker, ll. cc.; Aylmer. 110; Martin Mar-Prelate, ll. cc.; Foxe's Acts and Monuments. iii. 616, ed. 1784; Rymer's Foedera, xv. 27, 540.]
BULLINGHAM, NICHOLAS (1512?–1576), bishop of Lincoln 1560–1571, bishop of Worcester 1571–1576, probably a son of Thomas Bullingham, one of the bailiffs of that city 1528 and 1530, was born at Worcester about 1512, and educated at Oxford, where, according to Wood, he became fellow of All Souls in 1536. He took the degree of B.C.L. 24 Oct. 1541. In February 1546 he presented his supplicate for D.C.L., but was not admitted. He chiefly devoted himself to the study of civil and canon law, in which he obtained great distinction. His learning and his inclination towards the reformed faith commended him to Cranmer's favourable notice, and he was appointed one of his chaplains, in which capacity he attended on the primate at Ridley's consecration, 5 Sept. 1547 (Strype, Cranmer, p. 251). In November of the same year he appears as proctor in convocation for the clergy of the diocese of Lincoln, and was collated 17 Dec. by Bishop Holbeach to the prebend of Welton Westhall in the cathedral of Lincoln, which he exchanged for that of Empingham, 2 Sept. 1548. The next year, 22 Sept. 1549, he succeeded Heneage as archdeacon of Lincoln and was also vicar-general of the diocese. His name is found in the commission against anabaptists and other heretical teachers, 1549–50 (Strype, Mem. ii. i. 385, ii. 200). On the accession of Queen Mary, Bullingham, being a married man, and as one whose soundness in the faith was more than doubtful, was deprived of his archdeaconry and prebend and other preferments. On the outbreak of the Marian persecution he concealed himself until he found means to escape beyond seas (Strype, Parker, i. 127). He appears to have arrived at Emden about 5 Dec. 1554. During his exile he applied himself to the study of theology and canon law. The death of Mary and the accession of Elizabeth summoned Bullingham back to England. On the petition of Sir F. Ayscough to Cecil, 17 Dec. 1558 (State Papers), he was allowed to resume his preferments, and was appointed by Parker, to whom as dean of his cathedral of Lincoln he must have been well known,
