Richard Howland (1540–1600) was an English churchman and academic, Master ofMagdalene College, Cambridge, and ofSt John's College, Cambridge, andbishop of Peterborough.^[1]

He was the son and heir of John Howland, of the city of London, and Anne Greenway, ofCley inNorfolk. He was born atNewport Pond, nearSaffron Walden,Essex, and baptised 26 September 1540. He was admitted pensioner atChrist's College, Cambridge, on 18 March 1558, but he migrated to St. John's College, where he graduated B.A. in 1561. He was elected a fellow ofPeterhouse on 11 November 1562 and proceeded M. A. in 1564. His subsequent degrees were B.D. 1570, D.D. 1578.^[2] He was incorporated M.A. of Oxford on 9 July 1567. In 1569 he became rector ofStathern,Leicestershire, on the presentation of the master and fellows of Peterhouse.

Initially, Howland was a follower ofThomas Cartwright, and signed the unsuccessful petition toLord Burghley in 1571 asking that Cartwright might be allowed to return to Cambridge. He then changed his opinions, and after a sermon in a puritan vein inGreat St. Mary's by John Millen or Milayn, a fellow of Christ's, in October 1573, he controverted its teaching in the same place during the afternoon.^[3] Howland gained the confidence of Burghley, then chancellor of the university, and became his chaplain. By Burghley's influence, he was appointed to the mastership of Magdalene College, then almost in a state of bankruptcy, in 1576.

WhenJohn Whitgift resigned the mastership ofTrinity in June 1577, on his election to thesee of Worcester, he strongly recommended Howland, a personal friend, to Burghley, as his successor. The queen, however, had already selectedJohn Still, the master of St. John's, and it was arranged that Howland should be transferred from Magdalene to St. John's as Still's successor. He was admitted Master 20 July 1577, finding a college full of religious dissensions but with new statutes. In 1578 he served the office of vice-chancellor, in which capacity he, at the head of the university, waited on the queen on her visit toAudley End, on 27 July 1578, and presented her with a Greek Testament and a pair of gloves, making a suitable oration. In 1583 he was again vice-chancellor. The following year Whitgift, by this time archbishop, recommended his old friend for either of the vacant sees of Bath and Wells or of Chichester or, failing these, for the deanery of Peterborough; in 1584 the queen nominated him to the see of Peterborough. He was consecrated by Whitgift atLambeth on 7 February 1585. The choice of a successor threatened to involve the college in a fierce internal struggle and it was arranged that Howland should continue to hold the mastership with his bishopric; he resigned in February 1586.

Howland pleaded the cause of his diocese against the excessive tax for furnishing light horse. As bishop he took the first place at the funeral ofMary, Queen of Scots, inPeterborough Cathedral, in February 1587. The funeral cortege met at his palace, and after a great supper in his hall proceeded to the cathedral. On the death of ArchbishopJohn Piers in 1594, Howland was earnestly recommended for the see of York by the lord presidentHenry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, and thecouncil of the north;Matthew Hutton was appointed. The deprivation ofRobert Cawdrey, vicar ofSouth Luffenham,Rutland, led to a long dispute. Howland while bishop held the living ofSibson, Leicestershire,in commendam. He was rumored to have impoverished his bishopric for Burghley and was also the object of attacks ofMartin Mar-Prelate. He died unmarried atCastor, near Peterborough, on 23 June 1600, and was buried in his cathedral, without any memorial or epitaph.

• 1540 births
• 1600 deaths
• Masters of Magdalene College, Cambridge
• Masters of St John's College, Cambridge
• Bishops of Peterborough
• 16th-century Church of England bishops
• People from Saffron Walden
• 16th-century English scholars
• Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
• Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge
• Vice-chancellors of the University of Cambridge
• Burials at Peterborough Cathedral

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