He studied at the
University of Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1513-1514. He was awarded an M.A. at the
University of Leuven in 1519; while in the
Low Countries he taught Hebrew at
Jeroen van Busleyden's
Collegium Trilingue in
Leuven.
John Fisher was his patron, and in 1519 he also became Fellow of
St John's College, Cambridge. He was at the
University of Tübingen in 1522, teaching as the successor of
Johannes Reuchlin. He taught Hebrew at Cambridge from 1524 and received the B.D. there the following year.
Richard Pace recommended the subject to the king and he was appointed a royal chaplain. His
Oratio de utilitate trium linguarum (1524), the printed version by
Wynkyn de Worde of his inaugural lecture, contained the first examples of Hebrew text, and Arabic, published in England. From 1530 he taught in Oxford and is rumored to have stolen the ancient Hebrew lexicon from the abbey library at
Ramsey. He wrote in favour of
Henry VIII's divorce, after being persuaded by
Richard Pace to drop his support for
Catherine of Aragon; in 1528 he issued a work putting the king’s case, and showing by its dedication that he now had
Thomas Boleyn as patron. He became a canon of
Christ Church, Oxford, in 1532. ==Works==