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, and voted against the defeated proposal which was made for modification in rites and ceremonies. In 1564 he also subscribed the bishops' propositions concerning ecclesiastical dress, and wrote Tractatus de vestium usu in sacris. He was at Cambridge during Queen Elizabeth's visit in August 1564, and prepared an account of it in Latin; a similar account was written by him of the queen's visit to Oxford in 1566. He was one of the Lent preachers before the queen in 1565.
Robinson was elected bishop of Bangor, in succession to
archdeaconry of Anglesey
, which he held until his death. He resigned Shepperton about November 1574.
For the next few years Robinson acted against the non-Protestant customs in his diocese. On 7 October 1567 he wrote to
Sir William Cecil, noticing the use of images, altars, pilgrimages, and vigils. On 23 April 1571 he was acting as one of the commissioners for ecclesiastical causes at Lambeth, and in the convocation held that year he subscribed the English translation of the Thirty-nine Articles and the book of Canons. About 1581 he was still suspected of Catholic tendencies; on 28 May 1582 he wrote two letters, one to Francis Walsingham and the other to Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
, justifying himself.
He died on 13 February 1585, and was buried on the 17th in Bangor Cathedral on the south side of the high altar. His effigy and arms were delineated in brass, but the figure had been removed at the time of Browne Willis's survey in 1720.
Works
Robinson made a collection on Welsh history, which was formerly preserved in the
Hengwrt Library. He sent to Archbishop Parker a copy of part of Eadmer's history. He translated into Latin a life of Gruffydd ab Cynan from an old Welsh text at Gwydyr; the text and translation were edited by the Rev. Robert Williams for the Archaeologia Cambrensis for 1866. William Morgan
, in the dedication of his Welsh version of the bible (published in 1588), acknowledges assistance from a bishop of Bangor, presumed to be Robinson.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1897). "Robinson, Nicholas (d.1585)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 49. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
