Richard Rainolde
Richard Rainolde, also known as Reynolds, was an English scholar and cleric born around 1530, hailing from Essex. He began his academic journey at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1546, where he earned a scholarship and later transferred to Trinity College. Rainolde received his Bachelor of Arts in 1550 and Master of Arts in 1553, but his career was interrupted by the political shifts under Queen Mary I, leading to his probable expulsion from the university. He is known for his 1563 publication, *The Foundacion of Rhetorike*, which adapted classical rhetoric to address contemporary English and Protestant issues, although it did not see later reprints.
Following the accession of Queen Elizabeth I, Rainolde returned to Cambridge to study medicine but was sent to Russia in 1567 at the request of Czar Ivan the Terrible for medical assistance. After a brief return to England, he published *A Chronicle of all the Noble Emperours of the Romaines* in 1571, which intertwined historical narrative with commentary on Tudor politics. Rainolde's later life was marred by legal troubles, including issues regarding his medical practice and imprisonment for assault. He held various clerical positions until his death on December 20, 1606, leaving behind a complex legacy as a scholar and cleric in a tumultuous period of English history.
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Richard Rainolde
Writer and historian
- Born: c. 1530
- Birthplace: Essex, England
- Died: December 20, 1606
Biography
Richard Rainolde, or Reynolds, was born circa 1530 to a family from Essex, England, although there is no reliable record of him until he entered St. John’s College, Cambridge, in November, 1546, as a sizar, or a student whose expenses were met by the college in return for services. A year later he was awarded a scholarship from the Lady Margaret Foundation. In 1548 he transferred to the newly-established Trinity College. He obtained a B.A. in 1550, became a fellow in 1551, and received his M.A. in 1553.
Like his former sponsor at St. John’s, the master William Ball, Rainolde was probably expelled from the university when Queen Mary I came to the throne in 1553. It is probable that he found employment as a teacher, given his publication in 1563 of The Foundacion of Rhetorike, which was issued along with a reprint of the first English textbook on rhetoric, Thomas Wilson’s Arte of Rhetorique (1553), intended to serve as a foundation text for students. Rainolde’s book was an adaptation of the fourth century c.e.Progymnasmata by Apthnonius of Antioch, but its illustrations of fable, narration, and various kinds of oration, including encomium (praise) and vituperation (attack), were adapted to exemplify English and Protestant concerns. The book was never reprinted.
Rainolde returned to Cambridge after Queen Elizabeth I’s accession to the throne in 1558 and spent eight years studying medicine. He would presumably have proceeded to take his M.D. had he not been packed off summarily to Russia, in answer to a plea for British physicians made to Elizabeth by Czar Ivan the Terrible. The fact that Rainolde was sent to Russia was probably evidence that he was perceived as expendable. He had already completed his other significant works, but they were not published before his departure in 1567. He appears to have returned to England secretly in 1568, fearful of a cold welcome, and in May, 1569, he was installed at the rectory in Lambourn, England.
A Chronicle of all the Noble Emperours of the Romaines from Julius Caesar, Orderly to . . . Emperor Maximillan That Now Gouerneth with the Great Warres’ of Julius Caesar . . . , with a complementary Latin essay, De statu nibilium et principium, were eventually published in 1571. The first embedded a commentary on contemporary Tudor politics within a history, while the second extended its tacit argument, defending the authority of monarchy and attacking the papacy. Rainolde’s application for membership in the College of Physicians in 1571 was rejected, and he was charged with practicing medicine without a license; he was fined and briefly imprisoned, but returned to clerical duties. At some time in the 1570’s he married Elizabeth Barfoot, the niece of the heir to Lambourn manor, and they had a son. He became vicar of West Thurrock in 1578, but his legal troubles were not over. In 1579 he, his wife, and one Francis Bushe were committed to the Marshalsea prison for assaulting a process server. He resigned the West Thurrock vicarship in 1584 and served as a minor cleric in Essex until he died on December 20, 1606.