Forrest, William

(fl. 1581)

   A Catholic priest who was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, Forrest was present at the discussions held at Oxford in 1530 when Henry VIII desired to procure the judgment of the university in the matter of a divorce. He appears to have attended the funeral of Queen Catherine of Arragon at Peterborough in 1536. In 1551 he issued a paraphrased copy of some of the Psalms. Soon after Mary Tudor came to the throne in 1553, he wrote "A New Ballade of the Marigolde," a long poem on her accession, upon which she appointed him one of her chaplains. "Of his career after the death of his royal mistress nothing certain is known. He was probably protected by Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, to whom he dedicated his History of Joseph shortly before the duke's execution in 1572" (DNB). Some of his poems: "Te Deum, Lauding God Specially with Prayer Therin, for Our Quene Mary," "The Pater Noster to Gods Glory," "The Prologe to the Queenis Maiestee," "Theophilus," "To the Queenys Majestie."

   Sources: An Anthology of Catholic Poets. Joyce Kilmer, ed. Fredonia Books, 2003. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. English Poetry: Author Search. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Common Muse, an Antholog y of Popular British Ballad Poetry, XVth-XXth Century. Vivian de Sola Pinto and Allan Edwin Rodway, eds. Philosophical Library, 1957.