He came from a Derbyshire family. He graduated B.A. on 12 July
1572, at Balliol College, Oxford, and in the same year was
elected probationer fellow of his college. Before going to
Oxford he matriculated in 1566 at St John's College, Cambridge.
According to Anthony à Wood he owed his fellowship to the
influence of Robert Parsons; but Wood's editor, Philip Bliss,
contradicts him, connecting Bagshaw with the expulsion of
Parsons from the college. On 21 June 1575, Bagshaw took the
degree of M.A. At this time he was a strong if quarrelsome
Protestant. About 1579 he became Principal of Gloucester Hall,
where he made himself very unpopular. He resigned this office,
and in 1582 went to France. Here he became a convert to
Catholicism, and was made a priest. Then, with the permission of
Cardinal William Allen, he was admitted to the English College,
Rome; but his temper made him so unpopular that he was expelled
by Cardinal Boncompagno. On leaving Rome he returned to Paris,
where he became a doctor of divinity at the