{{Short description|Bishop of London (c. 1300–1354)}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | name = Ralph Stratford | title = Bishop of London | image = | alt = | caption = | religion = Catholic | elected = 26 January 1340 | term_end = 17 April 1354 | predecessor = Richard de Wentworth | successor = Michael Northburgh | consecration = 12 March 1340 | birth_date = c. 1300 | birth_place = Warwickshire | death_date =7 or 17 April 1354 | death_place = Stepney, London }}

thumb|Coats of arms attributed to '''Ralph de Stratford''':<br> {{unbulleted list |a) Per fess gules and sable, three plates |b) Gules, a fess argent, between three plates |c) Two cinquefoils pierced; quartering, 2 and 3, a sword in pale, point towards chief; 4, three cinquefoils<ref>Bedford, WK Riland. "The Blazon of Episcopacy" 1858</ref>}}

'''Ralph Stratford''' (c. 1300–1354), also known as '''Ralph Hatton of Stratford''', was a medieval Bishop of London.

==Early life== Born in Stratford-on-Avon at the beginning of the fourteenth century, Stratford's parents may have been Thomas Hatton (of Warwickshire) and a sister of the bishops John de Stratford and Robert Stratford. He is also related, through them, to Henry de Stratford, Sir Andrew de Stratford<ref>Blomefield and Parkin ''An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk'' pp. 390</ref> and the Archdeacon Thomas de Stratford. He attended Oxford University and was regent MA in 1329.<ref name="oxforddnb.com">Roy Martin Haines, ‘Stratford, Ralph (c.1300–1354)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26647, accessed 28 May 2014]</ref>

==Career== Stratford's career was closely defined by and linked with his uncles John and Robert.<ref>{{cite book |last=Haines |first=Roy Martin |title=Archbishop John Stratford, Political Revolutionary and Champion of the Liberties of the English Church, c.1275/80-1348 |place=Toronto |publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies |year=1986 |ISBN=0888440766 }}</ref> He was elected 26 January 1340 and consecrated on 12 March 1340.<ref name=Handbook258>Fryde, et al. ''Handbook of British Chronology'' p. 258</ref> In 1350 the king nominated him for the cardinalate.<ref name="oxforddnb.com"/>

==Death== Stratford died at Stepney, on 7 or 17 April 1354, and on 28 April his uncle Robert Stratford, bishop of Chichester, granted forty days' indulgence to those who prayed for his soul. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral.<ref name="oxforddnb.com"/>

==Citations== {{reflist}}

==References==

* {{cite book |author1=Fryde, E. B. |author2=Greenway, D. E. |author3=Porter, S. |author4=Roy, I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology|edition=Third revised |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }}

{{s-start}} {{s-rel|ca}} {{s-bef | before=Richard de Wentworth }} {{s-ttl | title=Bishop of London| years= 1340–1354 }} {{s-aft| after=Michael Northburgh }} {{s-end}}

{{Bishops of London}} {{Authority control}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}

{{short description|14th-century Bishop of London}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stratford, Ralph}} Ralph Category:Bishops of London Category:1354 deaths Category:Year of birth unknown Category:1300 births Category:Burials at St Paul's Cathedral Category:14th-century English Roman Catholic bishops