Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 55.djvu/435

 (Fuller Worthies' Library). Selections are very numerous; vol. ix. of Wesley's ‘Christian Library’ consists of extracts from Taylor. Many of his pieces have been translated into various languages; several into Welsh.



TAYLOR, JOHN (d. 1534), master of the rolls, was the eldest of three sons born at one birth in a humble cottage at Barton in the parish of Tatenhill, Staffordshire. Wood (Fasti, i. 62) says that the father was a tailor, and that the children were shown as a curiosity to Henry VII, who directed that care should be taken of them, and undertook the expense of their education. It is, however, probable that Taylor was born some years before 1485, when Henry VII came to the throne. He graduated doctor of civil and canon law at some foreign university, being incorporated at Cambridge in 1520 and at Oxford in 1522 (, Athenæ Cantabr. i. 50; Reg. Univ. Oxon. i. 124). In 1503, being then rector of Bishops Hatfield, he was ordained sub-deacon. In August 1504 he was sent with (d. 1516) [q. v.], afterwards master of the rolls, to negotiate a commercial treaty with Philip, duke of Burgundy, and in or about the same year he became rector of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. On 3 Jan. 1508–9 he was admitted to the prebend of Eccleshall in Lichfield Cathedral.

In Henry VIII's reign Taylor's employments increased. He occurs as king's clerk and chaplain in the first year of the reign, and on 29 Oct. 1509 was appointed clerk of the parliaments, with a salary of 40l.; on 18 Nov. following he was made a master in chancery. In the parliament which met on 21 Jan. 1509–10 he was a receiver of petitions from England, Ireland, and Wales. On 25 Nov. 1510 he was presented by Henry VIII to the church of All Saints the More, London, and on 3 April 1511 to the rectory of Coldingham in Lincoln diocese. In June 1513 Taylor accompanied the king on his campaign in France, and his minute diary of events extending from 25 June to 21 Oct., with corrections in Taylor's hand, is extant in Cotton. MS. Cleopatra, C. v. 64. He was probably also the author of the king's speech which was delivered on 4 March 1513–14 at the dissolution of parliament (extant in Harl. MS. 6464). In the following June he was prolocutor of convocation, and a speech he delivered in that capacity is preserved in Cotton. MS. Vitellius, B. ii. On 18 April 1515 Taylor was sent to meet the Venetian ambassador Giustiniani and conduct him to London. He replied to the address of the envoys on their presentation to the king. In the same year he was installed archdeacon of Derby, and was prolocutor of the convocation that met in December, and was rendered memorable by Standish's case (Letters and Papers, ii. 1312 et seq.; cf. art. ). On 9 March 1515–16 Taylor delivered a speech in answer to the Spanish envoys (extant in Cotton. MS. Vespasian C. i. 98). On 24 Dec. following he became archdeacon of Buckinghamshire, and on 16 March 1517–18 he was presented to a prebend in St. Stephen's, Westminster. From 1517 onwards he frequently acted as deputy to the master of the rolls.

In 1520 Taylor accompanied Henry VIII as his chaplain to the Field of the Cloth of Gold, and he was present at the subsequent meeting between Henry and Charles V. He