The 'Suffragan Bishops Act 1534' was an
Act of the
Parliament of England (26 Hen. VIII c. 14) that authorised the appointment of
suffragan (i.e. assistant)
bishops in
England and Wales. The tradition of appointing suffragans named after a town in the diocese other than the town the diocesan bishop is named after can be dated from this Act.
The Act named
Thetford,
Ipswich,
Colchester,
Dover,
Guildford,
Southampton,
Taunton,
Shaftesbury,
Molton,
Marlborough,
Bedford,
Leicester,
Gloucester,
Shrewsbury,
Bristol,
Penrith,
Bridgwater,
Nottingham,
Hull,
Huntingdon,
Cambridge, Perth,
Berwick-upon-Tweed,
St Germans and the
Isle of Wight [1] as specific suitable suffragan sees.
References
1. Bray, Gerald, 2004. Documents of the English Reformation. ISBN 0-227-17239-6. p.115.