Browne, George

BROWNE, GEORGE: First Protestant archbishop of Dublin; d. 1556. He is first heard of in 1534, when, as provincial of the order of Austin Friars, he was employed to administer the oath of 279succession to the friars of London and the south of England; he was nominated to the see of Dublin, vacant by the murder of Archbishop Allen, was consecrated the same year, and arrived in Ireland in 1536. He worked diligently to introduce the Reformation in Ireland and to further the cause of the king; he was deposed under Mary. His opponents have described him as avaricious, profligate, and unlearned.

Bibliography: A sketch and useful references to sources are in DNB, vii. 43–45.