ABSTRACT
One consequence of the tripartite power-struggle at court between 1576 and the death of Archbishop Grindal had been extreme tardiness in supplying vacancies to senior posts within the church. Whitgift made it one of his priorities that such procrastination, so damaging to episcopal esprit de corps, should cease. In the summer of 1583 Bath and Wells, Chichester and Ely had all been vacant for months and, with Whitgift earmarked for the primacy, Worcester was shortly to become so. Aylmer of London, under pressure and at permanent odds with Burghley since his elevation in 1577 and Edmund Freke, hamstrung at Norwich since the royal progress of 1578, had both long been seeking removal – preferably to Ely, if it could be secured on reasonable terms.
