He was born about
Michaelmas 1549 at
Pinhoe, near
Exeter. He was fifth son of Richard Rainolds;
William Rainolds was his brother. His uncle
Thomas Rainolds held the living of Pinhoe from 1530 to 1537, and was subsequently Warden of
Merton College, Oxford, and
Dean of Exeter. John Rainolds appears to have entered the
University of Oxford originally at Merton, but on 29 April 1563 he was elected to a scholarship at
Corpus Christi College, where two of his brothers, Hierome and Edmond, were already fellows. He became probationary fellow on 11 October 1566, and full fellow two years later. While a student at Corpus, he converted from Catholicism to Protestantism. On 15 October 1568 he graduated B.A.; and about this time he was assigned as tutor to
Richard Hooker. In 1566 he played the female role of
Hippolyta in a performance of the play
Palamon and Arcite at Oxford, as part of an elaborate entertainment for
Queen Elizabeth I. She rewarded him with 8
gold angels. Rainolds later recalled this youthful role with embarrassment, as he came to support Puritan objections to the theatre, being particularly critical of cross-dressing roles. In 1572–73 Rainolds was appointed reader in
Greek, and his lectures on
Aristotle's
Rhetoric made his reputation. In 1576 he objected to the proposal that
Antonio de Corro should be allowed to proceed
Doctor of Divinity; and at the same time he was instrumental in having
Francesco Pucci expelled from the university, Pucci being an associate and ally of Corro, who had moved against orthodox Calvinist positions. Rainolds resigned his readership in 1578. In the early 1580s, in the aftermath of
Edmund Campion's strenuous defence of
Catholic principles,
Francis Walsingham sent the Jesuit
John Hart to Rainolds for an extended discussion. Hart conceded to Rainolds on the
deposing power of the Pope, at least according to the
Protestant perspective, and an account was published in
The summe of the conference betweene John Rainoldes and John Hart (1584). Unable to agree with the president of Corpus,
William Cole, Rainolds then gave up his fellowship in 1586, and became a tutor at
Queen's College. In the same year Rainolds was appointed to a temporary lectureship, founded by Walsingham, for anti-Catholic polemical theology. By this time he had acquired a considerable reputation as a disputant on the Puritan side, and the story goes that
Elizabeth I visiting the university in 1592 "schooled him for his obstinate preciseness, willing him to follow her laws, and not run before them." In 1593 Rainolds was made dean of
Lincoln College, Oxford and/or of
Lincoln Cathedral. The fellows of Corpus were anxious to replace Cole with Rainolds, and an exchange was effected, Rainolds being elected president in December 1598. ==Creation of the King James Version of the Bible==