The English Protestant bishop Hugh Latimer (ca. 1492-1555) was an influential preacher of the first generation of English reformers. For a time bishop of Worcester, he was martyred as an arch-heretic.

Hugh Latimer was born at Thurscaston in Leicestershire, the son of a prosperous farmer. Educated at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, and elected a fellow there before obtaining his master of arts degree in 1514, Latimer was ordained priest in July 1515. He remained active in the university and received the degree of bachelor of divinity in 1524.

Latimer, until 1524, had been a vigorous opponent of the young Lutheran scholars at Cambridge. However, he gradually came under their influence. Notable elements in his conversion were the rejection of the works of the Fathers and the Schoolmen, an acceptance of the Bible as the solely sufficient authority in matters of faith, and the agreement with Martin Luther's principle that men are...