William Allen (cardinal)

William Allen ( * 1532 in Rossall, Lancashire, † October 16, 1594 in Rome ) was an English cardinal and statesman.

1547 Allen began studying at Oriel College, Oxford ( MA 1554 ). From 1556/1557, he served as Procurator of the College and was from 1558 a canon of York. After the accession of Elizabeth I Allen left England in 1561 and went to Louvain. A year later, he returned to his home and organized the resistance against the Protestants.

1565 had to flee from England Allen again. In 1568 he founded in Douai, the Collège des Anglais. 1578 Allen's seminary of the city was made, and he had to move it to 1593 to Reims. The college, which was originally dedicated to only the formation of the English clergy for the mission in their home country later expanded his area of ​​responsibility for the education of the laity. The St Edmund 's College and the Ushaw College emerged from the Collège des Anglais. 1579 William Allen founded the Collegium Anglicanum. In 1580 he persuaded Gregory XIII. , To lay the task of recatholicization England in the hands of the Jesuits. Allen sent among other Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion on a mission to England. He himself led out the project from the mainland.

Allen favored the violent recatholicization England and therefore allied himself with the followers of Mary Stuart and Philip II. , He supported Spain in the planning for an invasion of England. For this he was appointed in 1587 by Sixtus V. cardinal. Philip II awarded him in 1588 an abbey in Calabria. A year later, Allen was appointed by the King of Spain to the Archbishop of Mechelen and Metropolitan of Belgium.

Under Gregory XIV William Allen became the librarian of the Vatican Library and a member of the Auditing Committee of the Vulgate.