John Joscelyn | |
|---|---|
 A page from the D manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which was annotated by Joscelyn | |
| Born | 1529 probably High Roding, Essex |
| Died | 28 December 1603 probably High Roding, Essex |
| Resting place | All Saints' Church, High Roding |
| Occupation | Clergyman, secretary |
| Nationality | English |
| Education | Master of Arts |
| Alma mater | Queens' College, Cambridge |
| Period | Elizabethan England |
| Genre | historian, antiquarian |
John Joscelyn, also John Jocelyn or John Joscelin, (1529–1603) was an English clergyman and antiquarian as well as secretary to Matthew Parker, an Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I of England. Joscelyn was involved in Parker's attempts to secure and publish medieval manuscripts on church history, and was one of the first scholars of the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) language. He also studied the early law codes of England. His Old English dictionary, although not published during his lifetime, contributed greatly to the study of that language. Many of his manuscripts and papers eventually became part of the collections of Cambridge University, Oxford University, or the British Library.