Skelton

Skelton, JOHN, was born about 1460, showed remarkable promise as a scholar, won the patronage of Margaret Tudor, the learned mother of Henry VII., and was appointed tutor to Henry VIII. About 1500 he took orders, and held till his death the living of Diss in Norfolk. His first poem was on the death of Edward IV. in 1483, but his genius lay in the direction of boisterous satire, ribald merry-making, and Rabelaisian wit. In Colin Clout he assails the Church unsparingly, and in Why come ye not to Court? he makes Wolsey, then in the zenith of power, the butt of fearless ridicule. The Boroge [Barge] of Court deals with the follies of the day in a less personal form, whilst The Book of Philip Sparrow shows his lighter moods in a pleasant shape. It is said that Wolsey's wrath compelled him to seek sanctuary at Westminster, where he died in 1529.