[1] In a troubled career as minister, he was pastor to a congregation of Flemish or Walloon weavers brought to Southwest England around 1548.
Poullain failed to gain the position from a short list of five, all of whom were required to preach in front of a committee including Sturm, Immanuel Tremellius, and Peter Martyr, supported by Martin Bucer and others.
The weavers he brought occupied the building of the dissolved Glastonbury Abbey from 1551 to 1554, initially under the auspices of Lord Protector Somerset, and using a Protestant liturgy of Poullain's devising.
[7] Poullain was probably an influence on the liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer of Edward VI.
He became acquainted with John Foxe there; but a move to Basel led to his appearance before a matrimonial court in a case concerning his disputed betrothal.