text: john joscelyn john joscelyn or john joscelin ( 1529 – 1603 ) was an english clergyman and antiquarian as well as secretary to matthew parker , an archbishop of canterbury during the reign of queen elizabeth i of england . joscelyn was involved in parker 's attempts to secure and publish medieval manuscripts on church history , and was one of the first scholars of the old english language . he also studied the early law codes of england . his old english dictionary , although not published during his lifetime , contributed greatly to the study of that language . many of his manuscripts and papers eventually became part of the collections of cambridge university , oxford university , or the british library . early life joscelyn was born in 1529 , and was the son of sir thomas joscelin and dorothy gate . john was their third son to survive childhood , and was probably born on his father 's estate at high roding , essex . he attended queens ' college at cambridge beginning in 1545 , attaining a bachelor of arts in 1549 . in the school year 1550 – 1551 he taught latin at queens ' college , and the following school year he taught greek . at the end of 1552 , he was awarded a master of arts . in 1555 , during queen mary i 's reign , joscelyn subscribed to the required church doctrine , and was once more a teacher of greek during the school year 1556 – 1557 . however , in 1557 he resigned from his fellowship at queens ' college . work for parker in 1559 shortly after he was appointed as archbishop , matthew parker , the archbishop of canterbury , named joscelyn to a , and also as his latin language secretary . the following year parker gave joscelyn a prebend in hereford , held until 1577 . unusually for the time , besides greek and latin joscelyn was a scholar of hebrew . from parker 's interest in the history of early christianity , and to discover more information about the growth of papal power in the middle ages , joscelyn also began to study old english ( a topic of interest to parker ) , and helped the archbishop in his studies of the english pre - norman conquest church . joscelyn helped discover lost manuscripts , obtained them for parker , and prepared them for publication . joscelyn also acquired manuscripts for himself , 40 of which were written in old english . often annotated the manuscripts he or parker owned , and even inserted some pages of faked script into the d manuscript of the anglo - saxon chronicle , and probably owned that manuscript prior to robert cotton . his glosses are still extant on several dozen manuscripts , usually in latin , but occasionally in english . he was , however , also concerned that their collections be properly cared for . he had a good understanding of the law codes of the english anglo - saxon kings , which he used in the preparation of an old english - latin dictionary he worked on , but which was never completed . the dictionary was , however , of great help to later old english scholars , as it passed into the hands of robert cotton , and became part of the cotton library as manuscripts titus a xv and titus a . joscelyn 's written work on old english grammar also became part of the cotton library , but was lost after cotton loaned the manuscript to william camden in 1612 . parker published in 1572 a work entitled de antiquitate britannicae ecclesiae & ecclesiae , cum 70 , which is the first privately printed work to appear in english . although parker claimed in a letter that he was the author , it is likely that at the very least joscelyn did most of the research , and the manuscript of the work , which is now vitellius e xiv , is largely in his handwriting . further , parker 's son , after the archbishop 's death , noted beside the bequest notation for joscelyn 's brother thomas that john joscelyn was the author of the work . legacy and death joscelyn also published an edition of gildas ' work de excidio et conquestu britanniae in 1568 , for which he wrote the preface . he also wrote a history of corpus christi college at cambridge that remained unpublished until 1880 , 200 years after his death . he contributed extensively to parker 's a of shewing the fayth in the church of england , the earliest printed book containing portions in old english . joscelyn also contributed a large part of parker 's de antiquitate britannicae , published in 1572 . in 1577 , parker 's successor gave joscelyn a rectory at hollingbourne , kent , replacing the prebend at hereford . he died on 28 december 1602 , probably at high roding , and was buried in all saint 's church in high roding . he never married . joscelyn 's contributions to the study of old english have been called " a significant contribution to the development of the study of the language " . the historian may mckisack called him a " man of great learning and a good servant to his master " . besides his dictionary and grammar , his working notebook also became part of the cotton library , now manuscript vitellius other of his manuscripts , either written or acquired by him , were either given to corpus christi college by parker 's heirs , or became parts of the british library or the bodleian library .