Nag's Head Fable

The story surfaced more than 40 years after Parker's consecration and was spread by some Roman Catholics as fact until the dawn of the 20th century.

[1] The allegation of an indecent consecration in the Nag's Head tavern was first made in a controversial book entitled De investiganda vera ac visibili Christi ecclesia libellus, printed at Antwerp by a Jesuit and exiled Anglo-Romanist priest, Christopher Holywood (or Christophorus a Sacrobosco),[2] in 1604, over 40 years after the event.

According to propaganda, John Scory, the deposed Bishop of Chichester, was sent for and officiated at the Nag's Head tavern in Cheapside.

[1] There, Parker was supposedly consecrated by having a Bible pressed to his neck while Scory said, "Take thou authority to preach the word of God sincerely.

[3][4] As recently as the late nineteenth century, the legend was still being told as fact by controversialists in such countries as Sri Lanka.