He was a client of the Protestant gentleman Sir Peter Carew and shared his patron's enthusiasm for reformed religion.
In 1548, he made his modest reputation by publishing an open letter to Richard Crispin, a canon of Exeter Cathedral who had denounced Martin Luther in a sermon at Marldon on 24 March 1547.
[3] On the accession of Queen Mary I, Nichols fled into exile, joining a Protestant colony at Aarau.
He returned to England in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and unsuccessfully attempted to lobby Sir William Cecil to step up the pace of religious reform.
In 1549, a pro-government author wrote a manuscript tract entitled "An answer to the articles of the commoners of Devonshire and Cornwall", in response to the Prayer Book Rebellion.