Skelton, John (c. 1460–1529)

English poet. He was tutor to the future Henry VIII, under whom he became poet laureate in effect, if not in name. His satirical poetry includes political attacks on Cardinal Wolsey, such as Collyn Cloute (1522). He also wrote Magnyfycence (1516), the first secular morality play in English.

Skelton was born in Norfolk and studied at both Oxford and Cambridge universities. He became a priest in 1498 and was given the living of Diss in Norfolk.

His first recorded verses were composed on the death of Edward IV (1483). Phyllyp Sparowe (written before 1509) is a parody of the liturgical office for the dead, delivered upon a young lady's pet; A Ballade of the Scottysshe Kynge is an attack on Henry VIII's enemies, written after the Battle of Flodden (1513); the rumbustious The Tunnyng of Elynour Rummynge (1516) describes the drunks in an alehouse; ‘Speke Parrot’ (1521), Collyn Cloute, and Why come ye nat to Court (1522) all combine attacks on the growing influence of Wolsey with criticism of humanist learning.