H ayward, J ohn

Abstract

Sir John Hayward (?1564–1627), a civil lawyer and historian, is best known as the author of The first part of the life and raigne of King Henrie IIII (1599), which was published in London by John Wolfe with a dedication to Robert Devereux, second earl of Essex. The work, which focused on the downfall of Richard II and the first year of Henry's reign, was the first English history to be modelled on the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, and marks a turning point in English historiography. The book's popularity has been attributed to its association with Essex, whose career seemed to parallel that of Bolingbroke, but the implications of this comparison were troubling both to Essex and to Queen Elizabeth, who considered the book seditious. As Essex fell out of favour, Hayward found himself repeatedly questioned about his motives for writing the work, and though he denied any seditious intent, he spent the final years of Elizabeth's reign in prison. Upon his release, he asserted his royalist position through a series of political pamphlets that found favour with James I. His literary and legal careers flourished, and he rose to prominence, alongside William Camden, as one of the pre‐eminent historians of his time. Hayward's other works include several lives of English monarchs, political treatises, and a number of devotional works, the first of which, The sanctuarie of a troubled soule (1601), was written during the early months of his imprisonment. The troubles that Hayward experienced upon publishing his history of Henry IV have been especially significant for research on Elizabethan historiography, censorship, treason, and, more broadly, for studies concerned with the intersections of politics, law, and literature during this period.