ALCOCK, JOHN. - English bishop, FISHER, JOHN (v.) COLLETTA (v.), b. at Beverley in 1430, d. at Ely in 1500. He attended the University of Cambridge and was among the most eminent men of his time in England. He was bishop of Rochester (1472), then of Worcester (1476), and finally of Ely (1486). Tutor to the young Edward V, he was dismissed by the Protector Gloucester; but Henry VII appointed him controller of public works and lord Chancellor of the realm. Besides his virtues and his writings on preaching and asceticism, he is also known as a patron of the arts and a skilled architect. He is buried in a splendid chapel designed and erected by himself in Ely Cathedral. He restored the episcopal residence of Ely and many churches, founded the grammar school of Hull and the «Jesus College» of Cambridge.
The best known among his numerous works in Latin and English are: Sponnage of a Virgin to Christ (1480), Mons perfectionis or the Hill of Perfection, The Castle of Labour, translated from the French (1491), and a treatise combining the serious and the facetious, the title of which alludes to his own name: Galli cantus ad confratres suos.