John Heywood was probably born in Coventry in about 1497. Today he is almost exclusively known for his plays, which offer a witty treatment of serious religious, political and social issues, but among his immediate successors he was also famous as a wit, a musician, an epigrammatist and a compiler of proverbs.

He is first mentioned in the King's Household Books for the years 1519-20, when he received quarterly wages of 100 shillings as “synger”. These are only the first of various grants to Heywood during the reign of Henry VIII that bear witness to the favour the dramatist found with the King. From February 1521 he received incomes from lands in Essex; in 1525 and, again, in 1529 he was paid as “player of virginals”; from 1528

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First published 20 October 2001

Citation: Caputo, Nicoletta. "John Heywood". The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 October 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=2122, accessed 21 November 2009.]