Henry Machyn (1496/1498 – 1563) was an English clothier and

diarist A diary is a writing, written or audiovisual Memorabilia, memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by Calendar date, date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwriti ...

in 16th century

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Machyn's ''Chronicle'', which was written between 1550 and 1563, is primarily concerned with public events: changes on the throne, state visits, insurrections, executions and festivities. Machyn wrote his diary during a turbulent period in England: the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, initiated by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

and carried through by

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

, was followed by the return to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(and burning of heretics) under Queen

Mary I of England Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain as the wife of King Philip II from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She made vigorous ...

. Judging from his enthusiastic account of the disinterment of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

in 1557, Machyn was apparently a Catholic himself. The brief reign of

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...

, and the dangers of speaking up for the losing side, are duly recorded. He circulated libellous information about the Protestant preacher John Véron, for which he made penance at

Paul's Cross Paul's Cross (alternatively "Powles Crosse") was a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in St Paul's Churchyard, the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. It was the most important public pulpit in Tudor and early Stuart England, ...

in November 1561. Machyn's diary comes to an end in 1563, in all likelihood because of his death. Machyn sold funeral trappings, which explains why so much of his diary is concerned with minute accounts of funerals in London. Very little is known of the author; he is remarkably absent from his own diary. On only two occasions does he refer to his own age (56 in 1554, 66 in 1562). He was parish clerk of Holy Trinity the Less and made entries in the church register. Ian Mortimer, "Tudor Chronicler or Sixteenth-Century Diarist? Henry Machyn and the Nature of His Manuscript", ''The Sixteenth Century Journal'', 33:4 (Winter 2002), pp. 981-998. The (mis)spelling in this diary gives a rare insight into the pronunciation of the times. That is to say (since there was no strictly correct spelling at that time) that the spelling used in the manuscript, if it represents Machyn's speech accurately and consistently, provides an insight into one of the many and various patterns of English pronunciation of his time.

References

;General * * *

External links

The Diary of Henry Machyn
a
Internet Archive

The Diary of Henry Machyn
a
British History Online

A London Provisioner's Chronicle, 1500–1563, by Henry Machyn: Manuscript, Transcription and Modernization
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machyn, Henry 1490s births Year of birth uncertain 1563 deaths 16th-century English diarists 16th-century English male writers 16th-century Roman Catholics Writers from London English male non-fiction writers Cloth merchants 16th-century English merchants