Background
Hayward was born at or near Felixstowe, Suffolk circa 1564.
Hayward was born at or near Felixstowe, Suffolk circa 1564.
John Hayward received first education at his hometown.
He later went to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he was awarded BA in 1581, MA in 1584 and LLD in 1591.
John Hayward wrote The Lives of the III Normans, Kings of England (1613) and The Life and Raigne of King Edward the Sixth, published posthumously in 1630. His most popular work was a volume of religious meditations, The Sanctuarie of a Troubled Soule (1600).
Hayward was imprisoned for a time because of the political implications of his First Part of the Life and Raigne of Henrie the IIII (1599), dedicated to the Earl of Essex. Bacon remarked that, since Hayward stole whole passages from Tacitus, he should have been charged with felony rather than treason.
He became Chancellor of Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1615. He was a supplicant for incorporation at Oxford University in 1616 and became an advocate of Doctors' Commons on 5 August 1616.
From 1616 to 1627 he was Master in Chancery. He was admitted at Gray's Inn on 1 August 1619 and was knighted on 9 November 1619.