olet (lord mayor of London 1486 and 1495), was born in
London about 1467. He was educated at St Anthony's school and at
Magdalen College, Oxford, where he took the M.A. degree in 1490. He
already held the non-resident rectory of Dennington, Suffolk, and the
vicarage of St Dunstan's, Stepney, and was now collated rector of
Thurning, Hunts. In 1493 he went to Paris and thence to Italy, studying
canon and civil law, patristics and the rudiments of Greek. During his
residence abroad he became acquainted with Budaeus (Guillaume Bude) and
Erasmus, and with the teaching of Savonarola. On his return to England
in 1496 he took orders and settled at Oxford, where he lectured on the
epistles of St Paul, replacing the old scholastic method of
interpretation by an exegesis more in harmony with the new learning. His
methods did much to influence Erasmus, who visited Oxford in 1498, and
in after years Erasmus received an annuity from him. Since 1494 he had
been prebendary of York, and canon of St Martin le Grand, London. In
1502 he became prebendary of Salisbury, in 1505 prebendary of St Paul's,
and immediately afterwards dean of the same cathedral, having previously
taken the degree of doctor of divinity. Here he continued his practice
of lecturing on the books of the Bible; and he soon afterwards
established a perpetual divinity lecture, on three days in each week, in
St Paul's church. About the year 1508, having inherited his father's
large wealth, Colet formed his plan for the re-foundation of St Paul's
school, which he completed in 1512, and endowed with estates of an
annual value of L122 and upwards. The celebrated grammarian William
Lilly was the first master, and the company of mercers were (in 1510)
appointed trustees, the first example of non-clerical management in
education. The dean's religious opinions were so much more liberal than
those of the contemporary clergy (whose ignorance and corruption he
denounced) that they deemed him little better than a heretic; but
William Warham, the archbishop, refused to prosecute him. Similarly
Henry VIII. held him in high esteem despite his sermons against the
French wars. In 1514 he made the Canterbury pilgrimage, and in 1515
preached at Wolsey's installation as cardinal. Colet died of the
sweating sickness on the 16th of September 1519. He was buried on the
south side of the choir of St Paul's, where a stone was laid over his
grave, with no other inscription than his name. Besides the