John Joscelyn, an important scholar of Old English, was born in 1529 into a family of minor nobility in Hertfordshire. He came up to Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1545, and graduated BA from there in 1549. He became a fellow there and was a lecturer in Latin, then Greek, and also worked on Hebrew before resigning his fellowship in 1557. He was appointed chaplain and Latin Secretary to Matthew Parker after Parker became archbishop of Canterbury in 1559; he was also prebend at Hereford from 1560 to 1577, and then presented to the sinecure rectory of Hollingbourne in Kent. He died on 28 December 1603.
As Parker's Latin Secretary, Joscelyn spent much time researching and copying manuscripts and visited some of the old monastic libraries including those of Worcester Cathedral, probably Exeter
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Citation: Stokes, Peter Anthony. "John Joscelyn". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 13 October 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11743, accessed 22 November 2024.]
