Richard was educated at St Alban Hall, Oxford, where he was entered commoner in 1627, and whence, having taken the degree of B.A., he transferred himself to New Inn, continuing there until he proceeded M.A.
On 14 October 1634, Richard Alleine was married by his father, the rector of St Mary Magdalene, Ditcheat, to a Lettice Gough born 1611 in Oxfordshire.
His Vindiciae Pietatis (which first appeared in 1660) was refused license by Archbishop Sheldon, and was published, in common with other nonconformist books, without it.
Roger Norton, the king's printer, caused a large part of the first impression to be seized on the ground of its not being licensed and to be sent to the royal kitchen.
He therefore bought back the sheets, says the historian Edmund Calamy, for an old song, bound them and sold them in his own shop.
This in turn was complained of, and he had to beg pardon on his knees before the council-table; and the remaining copies were sentenced to be " bisked," or rubbed over with an inky brush, and sent back to the kitchen for lighting fires.