John Christopherson (died December 1558) was learned Catholic priest, chaplain and confessor to QueenMary I of England, Master ofTrinity College, Cambridge (1553–1558),Dean of Norwich (1554–1557) andBishop of Chichester (1557–1558)—all during the reign of Queen Mary (1553–1558).

Born atUlverstone, Lancashire, John Christopherson was educated at theUniversity of Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1540-41 and M.A. in 1543. He became Fellow ofPembroke College, Cambridge in 1541, Fellow ofSt John's in 1542 and Fellow ofTrinity College, Cambridge in 1546. During the reign ofEdward VI he went abroad toLouvain.^[1] In 1555, he was one of the accusers of William Wolsey and Richard Pygot,^[2] and he was involved in the trial of the Protestant martyrRichard Woodman in Southwark. He was a member of a commission under direction fromStephen Gardiner to reintroduce Catholicism to theUniversity of Cambridge.

He died in 1558. He had been put under house arrest following his definition of Protestantism as "a new invention of new men and heresies" on 27 November 1558, preached in response to a sermon at Paul's Cross. He died a month later, in late December 1558, either the 22nd or the 28th, and was buried at Christchurch, Newgate Street, where he had held a lease to the Prior's lodging and two gardens.^[3] He is particularly known for writing a tragedy onJephthah (based onEuripides'Iphigenia at Aulis), which is noteworthy for being the only Tudor play written in Greek. (The ScotsmanGeorge Buchanan wrote one inLatin on the same theme.)

• The Master of Trinity atTrinity College, Cambridge
• On the literary milieu of Christopherson's time (a list)

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