Mey, John (c.1400–p. 1456), archbishop of Armagh, was apparently of Anglo-Irish background but little is known of his career before his provision to the see of Armagh in August 1443; he is known to have had an LLB, or possibly a bachelorate of both laws, but does not appear on the registers for either Oxford or Cambridge. He appears as the vicar of Delvin and Kilmessan, Co. Meath, and was provided to Armagh when the pope overrode the election of Richard Talbot (qv), archbishop of Dublin. Consecrated in June 1444, he soon faced all the standard problems of fifteenth-century archbishops. As archbishop he was active in the defence of Co. Louth, but also faced the problems of severely limited finances and difficulties in recouping the money he spent on defence. His relations with the dean of his diocese, Cathal Ó Mealláin, who was supported by the O'Neills, were strained, but Mey was active in his duties, going on regular visitations of the sees in his jurisdictions and holding at least three provincial councils during his episcopate.
He was extremely aware of the rights and prerogatives of his office and very careful to preserve those rights, as witnessed by his treatment of Michael Tregury (qv), archbishop of Dublin, in 1451. In 1450 he personally intervened in the disputes raised by the union of the sees of Down and Connor and used his prestige as archbishop to end the disputes, although his choice for the diocese was ignored by the king in 1451. He seems to have had good personal relations with James Butler (qv), 4th earl of Ormond, but in general steered a cautious course with regard to the Dublin administration, refusing to supply troops on several occasions, and seeing his duty as archbishop to be to foster peace through pastoral rather than secular means. His relations with Ormond were based on the need for protection against the Gaelic lords of Ulster, but from 1449 he started to make peace treaties with neighbouring lords to provide a semblance of stability in his diocese.
Mey was appointed as deputy lieutenant (June 1453) by James Butler (qv), earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, but proved to be an ineffective chief governor and was replaced in March 1454 by Edward FitzEustace, deputy to Richard (qv), duke of York. Mey returned to his see, where he excommunicated Eóghan Ó Néill (qv), his wife, and his family in November 1454, but eventually relented and took part in the ceremonies that recognised Enrí Ó Néill (qv) as the head of his family in 1455. He then made a concordat with Ó Néill, in which he effectively recognised Ó Néill as the local sovereign and protector of the church, which indicates that he was willing to recognise the realities and limitations of his situation in an attempt to foster peace, as long as that peace did not interfere with the rights of his office. Mey died sometime after October 1456.