He was a native of
Somerset. He was admitted a scholar of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, on 10 March 1528, elected a probationer fellow there on 13 October 1531, and two years later a full fellow. He graduated M.A. in 1534, B.D. in 1542, and D.D. in 1546, having about that time subscribed the
thirty-four articles. He became chaplain to
Edmund Bonner,
bishop of London, who collated him on 9 July 1548 to the prebend of Twyford in
St Paul's Cathedral. In 1549 he distinguished himself in a public disputation with
Peter Martyr, held in the divinity school at Oxford. After the disgrace of
Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset Chedsey inveighed openly at Oxford against the reformed doctrines, and in consequence was, by an order in council of 10 March 1551, committed to the
Marshalsea prison for seditious preaching; he was imprisoned till 11 November 1551, when he was moved to the house of
Thomas Goodrich,
Bishop of Ely. On the accession of
Queen Mary he regained his liberty and received several marks of royal favour. He was presented by the queen to the living of
All Saints, Bread Street, London; a few days later Bonner collated him to the prebend of Chiswick in St Paul's; and by letters patent, dated 4 October the same year, he was appointed a canon of the
collegiate chapel of St. George at Windsor. On 28 November 1554 the lord mayor and aldermen in scarlet, and the commons in their liveries, assembled in St. Paul's, where Chedsey preached in the presence of the Bishop of London and nine other prelates, and read a letter from the queen's council, directing the Bishop of London to cause the
Te Deum' to be sung in all the churches of his diocese, with continual prayers for the queen, who had conceived. On 10 October 1556 Chedsey was collated to the
archdeaconry of Middlesex, and by letters patent, 18 June 1557, he was nominated by the king and queen to a canonry of
Christ Church, Oxford. In 1558 he was admitted to the vicarage of
Shottesbrooke, then in the
diocese of Salisbury, on the presentation of King Philip and Queen Mary. He was admitted President of Corpus Christi College on 15 September 1558; but he was removed next year by the commissioners sent by
Elizabeth I to visit undertake a visitation the university. In 1559 he was one of the Catholic divines who were summoned to the
Westminster Conference to dispute with an equal number of Protestants before an assembly of the nobility. At length he was deprived, as a
recusant, of all his preferments and was committed to the
Fleet Prison in London. He appears still to have been alive in 1574. ==Works==