John London, DCL (c. 1486 – 1543) was Warden of New College, Oxford, and a prominent figure in the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII of England.
[1][2] London also held a range of administrative roles within the church during this period: he became prebendary of York in 1519, and Treasurer of Lincoln Cathedral in 1522.
[2][4] His time as Warden was marked by religious turbulence and lack of discipline, and frequent complaints by and clashes with fellows of the college.
"[8]After Thomas Cromwell's execution in 1540, London became closely associated with the religious conservative Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester.
[9][10] While London's religious views adhered to Rome rather an evangelical or Protestant viewpoint, and he was a reformer rather than a suppressor,[1] he appears to have had no sympathy for the medieval traditions of the church and was at pains to emphasise to Cromwell that he was not "addicted to superstition".
[11] The conservatism and anti-Protestant nature of his religious views may have contributed to his need to make repeated protestations of his loyalty and dedication to Cromwell.
[1] His career as a commissioner was noted not only for the destruction of relics and other fittings considered idolatrous, but also for inflicting physical damage on the buildings.
[15] London noted in 1539 that the dissolution of the monasteries was popular with many of the younger nuns; many were committed to nunneries at a very young age and lived in "imperfect chastity".
[5]London's final downfall came in 1543 when he became involved in the Prebendaries' Plot, an attempt to oust the Protestant reformer Thomas Cranmer from office as Archbishop of Canterbury by bringing charges of heresy against him.
[1][3] King Henry VIII chose to stand by Cranmer, and London took much of the blame for the plot, possibly to protect Gardiner.