John Colet (1467-1519), English humanist and reformer. Colet was born in London and educated at St.Anthony's School and at Magdalene College, Oxford. He studied in France and Italy before returning to England when he took orders and settled at Oxford. he held several clerical posts before becoming Dean of St.Paul's in 1505. On his father's death Colet inherited a large sum and used some of it to found St.Paul's School. Although Colet never envisaged a breach with the Church of Rome, he wished to reform the common Christianity by removing the concepts of auricular confession and celibacy of the clergy. He was an early Christian humanist, who tried to link classics with the teachings of the church and had much influence on later theologians. This engraving