John Colet

He was born as the son of Sir Henry Colet of Wendover, a leading member of the Worshipful Company of Mercers and twice Lord Mayor of London. While his elder brother Richard was expected to take over the family textile business, John was predetermined for the ecclesiastical career. Of twenty-two children of his parents he was the only one to survive infancy, and has thus became an heir of his father's fortune.

Colet studied mathematics and philosophy at Oxford and then for three years he traveled and studied in France and Italy. Around that time began his close friendship with the Dutch scholar Erasmus, a key person of the Christian Humanism. Colet became a deacon in 1497 and a priest year afterwards. In 1499 he acquired the parish of Stepney, which was then the richest in England. In 1505 he was elected the dean of St.Paul and his influence within the Church then became considerable. He remained on that post until his death in 1519. Although he knew the highest ranking official of the Church and was a member of the privy council of King Henry VIII, Colet made no attempt to achieve any further promotion within the Church hierarchy.

During his lifetime, Colet became one of the leading representatives of Humanism. Some of his teachings such as the view that the study of Bible was the only route to holiness, attacking of abuses and idolatry made him close to principles of Reformation. Since the Bishop of London saw his views as to radical, he was accused for heresy in 1512 but the charges were dropped later.

In 1505, Colet inherited his father's wealth but he decided to devote his fortune to education and used it to found the St.Paul’s School in 1509. At the time of his death, Colet was worth £15,000, would have been worth over £3.4bn in 2010.