William Bedell

(Irish: Uilliam Beidil; 22 September 1571 – 7 February 1642), was an English Anglican bishop who served as the 5th Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1627 to 1629.

[2] In 1607, he was appointed chaplain to Sir Henry Wotton, then English Ambassador to Venice, where he remained for three years, acquiring a great reputation as a scholar and theologian.

[3] He translated the Book of Common Prayer into Italian, and both corresponded and was on terms of close friendship with the Venetian Republican statesman and political theorist Paolo Sarpi.

The Provostship paid roughly the same as his Horningsheath rectory and he clung to his living in Suffolk until forced to surrender it on grounds of benefice.

He set himself to reform the abuses of his diocese, encouraged the use of the Irish language by the clergy, and personally undertook many of the duties generally discharged by the bishop's lay chancellor.

[3] He is noted for commissioning the translation of the Bible into the Irish Language, which was undertaken by the Protestant Rector of Templeport parish, The Rev.

In 1633, he resigned the see of Ardagh, retaining the more primitive bishopric of Kilmore, where he encountered opposition from Anglicans and Catholics alike for his practice of reaching out to and trying to evangelist the native Irish.

The O'Reillys, however, "gave comfortable words to the Bishop" and William Bedell's house at Kilmore in County Cavan was left untouched, became a refuge for those fleeing arrest by the clan.