Thomas Cooper (bishop)

Thomas Cooper (c. 1517 – 29 April 1594) was an English bishop, lexicographer, and physician. He served as Bishop of Lincoln from 1571 to 1584 and Bishop of Winchester from 1584 until his death.

Cooper was born in Oxford, where he became a Fellow of Magdalen College in 1539. He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1540 and Master of Arts in 1544. Originally a Protestant, he conformed to Catholicism during the reign of Mary I. He practised medicine in Oxford and was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Medicine in 1555.

Upon the accession of Elizabeth I, Cooper once again embraced Protestantism. He became known for his strong stance against Puritanism. In 1566 he began work on a revised edition of Sir Thomas Elyot's Latin-English dictionary. The resulting work, Bibliotheca Eliotae. Sive Dictionarium Latinum et Anglicum auctum et emendatum, published in 1548, superseded Elyot's and became known as "Cooper's Dictionary." This dictionary went through several editions and became a standard reference work. He subsequently published Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae, a more comprehensive Latin-English dictionary, in 1565, and a chronicle of English history, Cooper's Chronicle, in 1560, an abridgment of Thomas Lanquet's work.

He was appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, in 1567 and served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1568 to 1570. In 1571, he was consecrated Bishop of Lincoln. During his tenure as Bishop of Lincoln, he was active in suppressing Puritanical practices and maintaining conformity within his diocese. He was translated to the see of Winchester in 1584.

As Bishop of Winchester, Cooper continued his efforts against Puritanism. He wrote a pamphlet in response to criticisms of the established church, defending the episcopacy and liturgical practices. He died in Winchester on 29 April 1594 and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. His will provided for scholarships at Oxford and support for the poor.