Life

Barker was born before 1522 and educated in the University of Cambridge at the cost of Queen Anne Boleyn, the second wife

Wives of Henry VIII

The wives of Henry VIII were the six queens consort married to Henry VIII of England between 1509 and 1547. The six women to hold the title 'queens consort' of King Henry VIII were, in order:* Catherine of Aragon ,* Anne Boleyn ,...

 of Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

. He appears to have commenced M.A. in 1540 and to have been a member either of Christ's College

Christ's College, Cambridge

Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...

 or of St. John's College.

After some years spent travelling in Italy, he published Epitaphia et inscriptiones lugubres. He then served as one of the members for Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth (UK Parliament constituency)

Great Yarmouth is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 in the parliaments which met in January 1557/8, January 1558/9, and April 1571 and was M.P. for Bramber

Bramber (UK Parliament constituency)

Bramber was a parliamentary borough in Sussex, one of the most notorious of all the rotten boroughs. It elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in 1295, and again from 1472 until 1832, when the constituency was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:The borough consisted of...

 in 1562/3.

He was one of the Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was an English nobleman.Norfolk was the son of the poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. He was taught as a child by John Foxe, the Protestant martyrologist, who remained a lifelong recipient of Norfolk's patronage...

's secretaries, and was deeply implicated in that nobleman's plots. About 4 September 1571, as a result of the discovery of the Ridolfi Plot

Ridolfi plot

The Ridolfi plot was a plot in 1570 to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. The plot was hatched and planned by Roberto di Ridolfi, an international banker who was able to travel between Brussels, Rome and Madrid to gather support without attracting...

, he was committed to the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

. At first he denied what was imputed to him, but he was soon induced by fear of the rack

Rack (torture)

The rack is a torture device consisting of a rectangular, usually wooden frame, slightly raised from the ground, with a roller at one, or both, ends, having at one end a fixed bar to which the legs were fastened, and at the other a movable bar to which the hands were tied...

 to make confessions which seriously involved the duke, who, however, denied many of his statements and contemptuously styled him an Italianified Englishman. Barker spent two years in the Tower and then retreated into obscurity and he was last heard of in 1576.

Works

Barker was probably the author of the following works:

• Epitaphia et inscriptiones lugubres, cum in Italia animi causa peregrinatur, collecta, Lond. 1554, 1566, 4to.
• St. Basil the Great, his Exhortation to his kinsmen to the studie of the Scriptures translated, Lond. 1557, 8vo.
• The viii bookes of Xenophon
  Xenophon
  Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens, was a Greek historian, soldier, mercenary, philosopher and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates...
  
  , containing the institution, schole, and education of Cyrus
  Cyrus the Great
  Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
  
  , the noble king of Persye: also his civil and principal estate, his expedition into Babilon, Syria, and Egypt, and his exhortation before his death to his children. Translated out of Greek into English, Lond. 1567, 8vo. Another edition containing only six books was printed by R. Wolfe, Lond. n.d. Dedicated to William, earl of Pembroke.
• The Fearfull Fancies of the Florentine Cooper. Written in Tuscane by John Baptist Gelli, one of the free studie of Florence. And for recreation translated into English, Lond. 1568, 1599, 8vo.
• The Nobility of Women