RASTELL, JOHN AND WILLIAM

John, printer and brother-in-law of St. Thomas more; b. Coventry, 1475; d. London, 1536. John Rastell entered the Middle Temple before 1500, married Elizabeth More before 1504, and was settled in London by 1510, where he added printing to his legal work. Among the earliest books he printed were More's Pico and Linacre's Latin Grammar. He served in the French war of 1512 and took part in an abortive voyage to the New World in 1517. He helped in the embellishment of the Field of Cloth of Gold and, in later years, of several London pageants. He compiled a number of law books and wrote several interludes. Under the influence of John Frith, he accepted Lutheran notions and campaigned against tithes. In spite of his friendship with Thomas cromwell, he was sent to prison where he died.

William, nephew of St. Thomas More; b. London?, 1508; d. Louvain, 1565. William Rastell was probably educated with the More children. He assisted his father, John, in his print shop until 1529 when he set up his own printing press and produced his uncle's controversial writings. After More's death he studied law at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in 1539. He married Winifred, daughter of John and Margaret Clement, in 1544. Forced into exile under the Protestant policy of Edward VI in 1549, they settled at Louvain. After Winifred's death in 1553, William returned to England, published his uncle's English Works in 1557, and became a judge of the Queen's Bench in 1558. Under elizabeth i, he again went into exile where he published his uncle's Latin works at Louvain in 1565. He wrote a life of St. Thomas More, but only fragments referring to St. John fisher are extant.

Bibliography: a. w. reed, Early Tudor Drama (London 1926). The Dictionary of National Biography from the Earliest Times to 1900 (London 1885–1900) 16:746. j. gillow, A Literary and Biographical History or Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics from 1534 to the Present Time (London–New York 1885–1902) 5:387–392.

[e. e. reynolds]