BRADSHAW, HENRY, an English poet, born at Chester
about the middle of the fifteenth century. Early dis-
playing a taste for religion and literature, he was received
while a boy into the Benedictine monastery of St Werberg
in that city; and he was afterwards sent to Gloucester (now
Worcester) College, Oxford. After studying there for a time
with the novices of his order, he returned to his convent,
where, in the latter part of his life, he applied himself
chiefly to the study of history. He died in 1513. His
poetry in some respects is not inferior to that of any of his
contemporaries. His works are, 1. De antiquitate et magni-
ficentia Urbis Cestrie; 2. Chronicon; 3. The Life of the
glorious virgin St Werberg, printed at London, 1521,
4to, in verse, and now extremely rare. The life of St Wer-
berg forms only part of this work, which contains also a
description of the kingdom of Mercia, a life of St Etheldred,
a life of St Sexburg, the foundation and history of Chester,
and the chronicles of some kings.