He was educated for a time in 'grammaticals, logicals, and philosophicals among the Oxonians,' though in what college or hall Anthony a Wood was unable to discover.
At length he, like his patron, was accused of leze majesty, and committed to the Tower of London, where, to avoid public shame, as has been conjectured, he hanged himself in his cell with his girdle on 10 May 1552.
Clerk, who was a steady adherent of Roman Catholicism, wrote: 'A Treatise of Nobility,' translated from the French, London, 1543, 12mo.
'Opusculum plane divinum de mortuorum resurrectione et extremo iuditio, in quatuor linguis succincte conscriptum.
Predestination, Ffree will, Faythe, Justification, Good woorkes, Christian libertye,' London, 1546, 8vo; dedicated in Italian to Thomas, duke of Norfolk.