Anthony Draycot was an English Roman Catholic churchman and lawyer. During the reign of Queen Mary

Mary I of England

Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...

 he held a diocesan position as chancellor

Chancellor

Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...

; his role in condemning numerous Protestants

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 to death is detailed in Foxe's Book of Martyrs

Foxe's Book of Martyrs

The Book of Martyrs, by John Foxe, more accurately Acts and Monuments, is an account from a Protestant point of view of Christian church history and martyrology...

.

Life

He was from Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, and became Principal of White Hall (afterwards included in Jesus College), Oxford, and of Pirye Hall adjoining it. On 23 June 1522 he was admitted bachelor of canons, taking his doctor's degree on 21 July following. He held the family rectum of Draycot. On 11 December 1527 he was instituted to the vicarage of Hitchin

Hitchin

Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...

, Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...

, which he exchanged on 5 March 1531 for the rectory of Cottingham

Cottingham, Northamptonshire

Cottingham is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire in the English midlands that can trace its history back to Roman times. Cotingeham is listed in the Domesday Book and is also mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It is located north-west of the town of Corby and is administered as...

, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

. He was archdeacon of Stow, 15 January 1543, and archdeacon of Huntingdon, 27 July 1543, both in the same church of Lincoln. On 2 December 1547 he was appointed by convocation head of a committee to draw up a form of a statute for paying tithes in cities. Draycot held a number of positions as rector of St Mary's Church, Wirksworth

St Mary's Church, Wirksworth

St. Mary's Church, Wirksworth, is a parish church in the Church of England in Wirksworth, Derbyshire.-Description:It is a Grade I listed building dating mostly from the thirteenth century. It was restored in 1870 by Sir Gilbert Scott...

, North Wingfield

North Wingfield

North Wingfield is a large village in the English county of Derbyshire, located approximately 4½ miles south-east of Chesterfield, and 1 mile north-east of Clay Cross. It is in the North East Derbyshire district...

, Kettering

Kettering

Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...

, and Grindon

Grindon, Staffordshire

-Geography:Grindon is situated near the southern end of the Peak District National Park. It is at the top of the western edge of the limestone bank of the Manifold Valley, south of Butterton and opposite Wetton on the eastern side of the valley. A comparison of two views north from the village...

.

He was chancellor for a time to John Longland

John Longland

John Longland was the English Dean of Salisbury from 1514 to 1521 and bishop of Lincoln from 1521 to his death in 1547.He was King Henry VIII's confessor and was said to have been one of those who first persuaded the King that he should annul his marriage to Katherine of Aragon.During the English...

, bishop of Lincoln

Bishop of Lincoln

The Bishop of Lincoln is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral...

, and to Ralph Baine, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, acting against the Protestants. It is said that after giving a sermon on the day of Joan Waste

Joan Waste

Joan Waste was a blind woman who was burned in Derby for refusing to renounce her Protestant faith.-Biography:Waste was born blind in 1534, with her twin brother Roger, to a Derby barber, William Waste and his wife, Joan...

's execution he then went home to eat. In 1553 he was one of the committee for the restitution of Bishop Edmund Bonner

Edmund Bonner

Edmund Bonner , Bishop of London, was an English bishop. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonized by the Protestant reforms introduced by Somerset and reconciled himself to Roman Catholicism...

. At Elizabeth

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

's accession he refused to take the oath of supremacy

Oath of Supremacy

The Oath of Supremacy, originally imposed by King Henry VIII of England through the Act of Supremacy 1534, but repealed by his daughter, Queen Mary I of England and reinstated under Mary's sister, Queen Elizabeth I of England under the Act of Supremacy 1559, provided for any person taking public or...

, and was stripped of all his preferments, except the rectory of Draycot. In 1560 he was in the Fleet Prison

Fleet Prison

Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the Fleet River in London. The prison was built in 1197 and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.- History :...

. He was allowed out to die at his family's home in Draycott in the Moors, on 20 January 1571.