THE LIFE OF JOHN GOODYER 



John Goodyer was born at Alton in Hampshire in 1592.^ 

 Possibly he first saw the light in a house belonging to 

 Magdalen College, Oxford, the College which both through 

 its landed property in the Petersfield district, through 

 Goodyer's relationship to its tenants and bailiffs, and 

 through the scientific members of its foundation, was so 

 fully to win his confidence and affection, that in his last will 

 and testament he bequeathed to it his most cherished 

 possession, his botanical library and manuscripts. These 

 materials are now available for the reconstruction of his 

 life and work. 



His father, Reginald Goodyer, appears several times 

 in the College books.^ There is a copy of the terms on 

 which the then President, William Langton, and the 

 Fellows of the College leased to ' Reginald Goodyeare ', 

 a yeoman of the parish of St. Laurence in Alton, the farm 

 called Beeches Place and the wood called Priors Reade 

 now or late in the tenure of Henry Mervyn, Esq., at an 

 annual rent of ^4 3^". 4^. together with two quarters of 

 ' good, sweete, & marchantable wheate, and furthermore 

 3 quarters of good sweete make to be delivered within 

 the said College ', or their value in money according to the 

 prices of the Oxford market. 



^ I have no knowledge of an entry in any Baptismal Register. The year has 

 probably been calculated from his Marriage Licence which states his age as 

 forty in 1632. 



^ The entry in Ledger K is dated 27 July 1614, and on f. 188 there is a further 

 entry made in 161 9, when the name is spelt Reginald Goodier. According to 

 information from Miss Wotton, Reginald Goodyer had previously paid taxes 

 direct from Alton in 1600, and was described in a Star Chamber Case as 

 a yeoman of Alton in 1605. Then {Star Chamber Proc. Jaines I, 204-13) he 

 gave evidence for Sir Richard Pawlett, showing intimate acquaintance with the 

 manor of Herriard, where his father was living in 1572, and with the hamlet of 

 Southropp, It is possible that he was a sub-tenant of Beeches Place under 

 Henry Mervyn, before he held it under a direct lease from the College. 



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