In 2017 we commemorated the fifth centenary of the protestant reformation—500 years since Martin Luther publicized his Ninety-Five Theses. In England, of course, the timing and form of the reformation was directly shaped by the anxieties and ambitions of one man: King Henry VIII. To one New College man—William Warham, who was created a fellow of college in 1475—this was an issue that would define the last years of his career.

A 1527 portrait [detail] of William Warham (1450?–1532), by Hans Holbein the Younger