[citation needed] He was elected bishop of Lincoln between 20 August 1362 and 4 October 1362 and was consecrated on 25 June 1363.

The bishop attempted to stop Swynderby's preaching and managed to turn him out of the chapel of St John the Baptist.

He used two great stones which lay outside the chapel as a pulpit, and declared that as long as he had the goodwill of the people he would 'preach in the king's highway in spite of the bishop's teeth.'

In May 1382 Bokyngham attended the synod called the council of 'the earthquake,' held in London by Archbishop Courtenay, in which the propositions ascribed to the Wycliffite preachers were pronounced heretical.

She was imprisoned by Bokyngham in Banbury after calling the Bishop an anti-Christ and only admitting that on the charge of incontinence she was innocent.