ABSTRACT
The spring and summer of 1594 saw the deaths of five senior bishops, a circumstance which was to trigger the most drastic episcopal upheaval of the reign. The constant need to restock the bench during the next four years was to furnish the final and complex chapter in the story of William Cecil and episcopacy. The wearying cycle began precisely at the moment when, after nearly 35 years of unflagging service, his health began finally to fail him.1 It ended three months after his death in August 1598.
