[11] At university, Cheke, and his friend, Thomas Smith (a student of Civil Law at Queens' College), were thought so outstanding that each was granted an exhibition by King Henry to support them in their studies.

[13] After Poynet as Greek Reader came Roger Ascham,[14] Cheke's student, who read Isocrates, at first disputing but afterwards coming round fully to the innovations,[15] which also won the approval of John Redman.

[22] In June 1542, Bishop Gardiner, as chancellor of the university, issued his Edict to all who recognized his authority that the sounds customarily used for the pronunciation of Greek or Latin should not be changed by anyone, and gave a list of them with phonetic explanations.

He pronounced severe and potentially exclusionist penalties at all levels of the academic hierarchy for those who contravened this ruling, and further wrote to the vice-chancellor requiring that his edict be observed.

[28] At this time Cheke prepared his Latin translation (dedicated to the King) of the De Apparatu Bellico of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI, often sharing and talking over his work with Roger Ascham.

[30] Cheke's reading and thought in the Greek Histories, and his use of them to extract examples of policy and conduct, can be studied in his annotations to print copies (from the Aldine Press) of Herodotus and Thucydides.

[35] Special interest has been found in Cheke's lengthy preface to his Latin translation of Plutarch's De Superstitione,[36] prepared as a New Year's gift for the King in 1545 or 1546.

For he not only sowed the seeds of that Doctrine in the heart of Prince EDWARD, which afterwards grew up into a generall Reformation when he came to be King, but by his meanes the same saveing truth was gently instilled into the Lady ELIZABETH, by those who by his procurement were admitted to be the Guides of her younger Studies.

He received by purchase a large grant of lands in London and elsewhere, including the site of the former College of St John the Baptist at Stoke-by-Clare in Suffolk, in October 1548.

[49] Following Seymour's execution in March Cheke retreated to Cambridge for a time, tending his library and readjusting his circumstances, aware that he had come near to losing his position (as his letter to Peter Osborne indicates).

[53] The antiquary Francis Blomefield dates to 1550 Cheke's receipt of a 21-year lease of the manor and rectory of Rushworth, Norfolk (a former collegiate estate established by the Gonville family[54]), which he re-leased to his brother-in-law, George Alyngton, of Stoke-by-Clare.

Colleges were visited, complaints were heard, investigated and acted upon; two disputations (20 and 25 June) were held in the Philosophy Schools upon the question of the Real Presence in the Sacrament.

He returned to London, giving evidence at the examination of Bishop Bonner in September 1549,[60] and sitting in the Parliamentary third session, towards the close of which he was granted property in Lincolnshire and Suffolk worth £118 a year for his care in the King's instruction.

[63] He obtained for Roger Ascham the role of secretary to Sir Richard Morison's Embassy to Emperor Charles V.[64] Archbishop Cranmer reputedly told Cheke that he might be glad all the days of his life to have such a scholar as the Prince, "for he hathe more divinitie in his litle fynger, then all we have in al our bodies.

In October 1550 his friend Martin Bucer, Cambridge Regius Professor of Divinity (who was indebted to Cheke for some favour offered by the King towards his countryman Johann Sleidan), presented him with the draft manuscript of his De Regno Christi (which remained unpublished until 1557).

In May 1551 Cheke's annuity was cancelled, and in its place he received an enhanced grant of Stoke-by-Clare with its former lands and dependencies in Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Huntingdon, etc, with other properties, worth £192 per annum, for his industry in teaching the King.

[70] He was serving as commissioner for relief in Cambridgeshire,[71] and, having conducted a Visitation of Eton in September, he and his brother-in-law Cecil (now a Secretary of State and chancellor of the Order of the Garter) on 11 October received knighthoods,[72] the day upon which the Earl of Warwick was created Duke of Northumberland, and others of the nobility were advanced.

Shortly thereafter Cheke took part in two important private disputations upon the Real Presence, one at Cecil's house and the second at Sir Richard Morison's, held as a preparation for the review of the Prayer Book to be conducted in 1552.

[74] At this time Cheke, who had the books and papers of Martin Bucer, was attempting to build up the royal Library, and at the death of his friend and admirer[75] John Leland, the antiquary, in April 1552 acquired his materials for the same purpose.

Having suffered a severe inflammation of the lungs in May 1552, he held a further disputation in Cambridge upon the doctrine of the Harrowing of Hell, with Christopher Carlile, before joining a royal progress.

[80] Cheke gave him some exact dates concerning events in his life, and Cardano described him as a slender, manly figure with fine skin of good colour, well-set and sharp eyes, of noble bearing, handsome and hirsute.

[83] As the King's health declined and the question of succession became imminent, on 2 June 1553 Cheke was sworn as one of the principal Secretaries of State and took his place in the Privy Council.

Sir John Cheke composed the reply of the same date, signed by the Lords of the council, informing her of Jane's rightful succession, of the witnessed and sealed deeds declaring the late King's will, and of their duty to her.

Among the numerous arrests which followed, Sir John Cheke and the Duke of Suffolk (Queen Jane's father) were taken on 27 or 28 July 1553 and imprisoned in the Tower,[90] articles of indictment being drawn up against him two weeks later.

[98] Wroth, Cheke and Cooke, with their companies, joined with the Hoby party on an excursion to Mantua and Ferrara, returning to Padua in late November.

In early September 1556 he wrote a submission to the Queen which Her Majesty approved, though he was made to write it out again for having failed to mention King Philip: Feckenham sent him some notes on the real presence.

[110] John Foxe continues:"Then after his recantation, hee was thorough the craftie handlyng of the catholikes, allured first to dine and company with them, at length drawen unwares to sit in place, where the pore Martyrs were brought before Boner and other Bishops to bee condemned, the remorse whereof so mightely wrought in his hart, that not longe after he lefte this mortal life.

[114] His brief will, providing for an annuity of £10 for his son Henry's continuing education, making his wife and his friend and kinsman Peter Osborne (husband of Cheke's niece Anne Blythe) his executors and his "deerely beloved" Sir John Mason his overseer, was written on 13 September 1557.

[116] He died, aged 43, on the same day,[117] at Osborne's house in London, carrying, as Thomas Fuller remarked, "God's pardon and all good men's pity along with him.

He was buried at St Alban, Wood Street and had a memorial inscription there, written by Walter Haddon,[110] recorded by Gerard Langbaine: "Doctrinae CHECUS linguae{que} utrius{que} MagisterAurea naturae fabrica morte jacet.Non erat ė multis unus, sed praestitit unusOmnibus, et patriae flos erat ille suae.Gemma Britanna fuit: tam magnum nulla tuleruntTempora thesaurum; tempora nulla ferent.