Thomas Beard

On 21 January 1598 he was collated to the rectory of Hengrave, Suffolk, which he held for a very short time, moving as rector to Aythorpe Roding, Essex, later in the year.

In 1628, when Richard Neile went before the House of Commons of England accused of anti-puritan practices, Beard was summoned as a witness against him.

On Cromwell's account, Neile as Beard's diocesan bishop (diocese of Lincoln) told him not to preach against Alabaster; and reprimanded him later when on the advice of Nicholas Felton he did so.

Edward Wedlake Brayley in his Beauties of England and Wales recorded the inscription on a brass in the nave of All Saints' Church, Huntingdon, to Beard's memory.

The Theatre of Gods Judgements, Beard's earliest and most famous book, first appeared in 1597;[4] a work in the tradition of John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, it was popular, plagiarised and pirated.

[7][8] Chassingnon's book provided hundreds of the examples, while Beard added in a scattering from other sources closer to home: Foxe, John Stowe, Raphael Holinshed, pamphlets and ballads.

A Latin comedy Pedantius[13] has been attributed to him, but also to Walter Hawkesworth, Anthony Wingfield and (by modern scholars) to Edward Forsett.