{{Short description|English cleric and historian}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''John Dakyn''' (1497 &ndash; November 9, 1558) was an English cleric and historian. He was Archdeacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire and a noted chronicler of the Pilgrimage of Grace.<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/archive/2000/11/17/The+North+East+Archive/7125281.Past_Lives__A_stake_and_fire_on_the_cobbles/ Past Lives: A stake and fire on the cobbles (From The Northern Echo)<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In his early life Dakyn was chancellor to the Bishop of Bath and Wells, William Knight, and in his will Knight appointed Dakyn his executor. Much of the money that established the Dakyn Trust in the parish of Kirkby Ravensworth was left by Knight.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> Dakyn was also vicar general to Knight whilst Knight was the absentee holder of the archdeaconry of Richmond.<ref name=fletcher85>{{cite book | title=Order and Disorder in Early Modern England | author1=Anthony Fletcher | author2=John Stevenson | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1987 | isbn=978-0-521-34932-1 | page=85 }}</ref> Dakyn played a leading part in the Pilgrimage of Grace.<ref name=fletcher85/> He rose to vicar general of the diocese of York<ref>{{cite book | page=50 | title=Tudor rebellions | series=Seminar studies in history | author1=Anthony Fletcher | author2=Diarmaid MacCulloch | edition=5th | publisher=Pearson Education | year=2004 | isbn=0-582-77285-0 }}</ref> and archdeacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire in 1551. In 1554 he was appointed rector of Kirkby Ravensworth.<ref>{{CCEd |type=person |id=116362 |name= Dakyn, John |year1=1548 |year2=1556 |accessed=28 October 2024 }}</ref> He gained the degree of Doctor of Canon Law (DCL).

In 1556 he established a school and an almshouse for the people of the parish of Kirkby Ravensworth where he had been rector. Initially the endowment of the school and almshouse was in lands, situated principally in the parish of East Coulton. The school and the almshouse have since been closed down, but the John Dakyn Trust continues to benefit local young people and the elderly.

Dakyn was responsible for the North of England's first, and possibly only, burning for heresy in the last three years of Mary's reign.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> According to John Foxe: "Immediately after D. Dakins geuing sentence that þe other should be burnt, came home to hys house and neuer ioyed after, but dyed."<ref>[http://www.johnfoxe.org/index.php?realm=text&gototype=modern&edition=1583&pageid=2173 The Acts and Monuments Online<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dakyn, John}} Category:English Roman Catholics Category:1558 deaths Category:Archdeacons of Taunton Category:1497 births