Henry Cotton (c.1545–1615), Bishop of Salisbury: His Ancestry and Descent from King John

by Michael P Bodman[1]

Abstract

This article documents the ancestry of the Rt Revd Henry Cotton (c.1545–1615), bishop of Salisbury, 1598–1615, utilising information from contemporaneous wills and Chancery records. It includes lines of descent first from King John [“Lackland”] (1167–1216) via Elizabeth (Cherleton) Sutton née Berkeley (d.1478), daughter of Sir John Berkeley MP, of Beverston castle, co. Gloucester; and second from Sir Robert Onley (1435–1493), mayor of Coventry and MP, via Jane Cotton née Onley (d.1585), daughter of John Onley MP, of London and Catesby, co. Northampton. Sir Robert had entertained and lodged King Henry VII just two days after the battle of Bosworth in 1485, at his residence the Bull Inn in Coventry.