Editing John de Stratford (section)

==Early life==
Stratford was born into the landed [[Stratford (family)|Stratford family]] of [[Stratford-on-Avon]] around 1275. His father was Robert de Stratford (not to be confused with John's brother, [[Robert Stratford]]) and his mother was named Isabel. Robert senior has been identified as ‘Master’ Robert, co-founder and first master of the hospital of St Cross within the town, but in view of the title magister and the celibate status required, this appears unlikely. The family was related to the Hattons, important men in the town, [[Ralph Stratford|Ralph Hatton]] ‘of Stratford’, the future bishop of London, being John's nephew.  He was a relative of [[Andrew Stratford|Andrew De Stratford]]<ref>Blomefield and Parkin ''An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk'' pp. 390</ref> and of [[Thomas de Stratford]] and [[Henry de Stratford]]<ref name="David Charles Douglas p. 69">David Charles Douglas, Alec Reginald Myers "English historical documents. 4. [Late medieval]. 1327 – 1485" p. 69</ref> (whom he inducted as the rector of a vacant church in North Berkhamstead (Lincoln) on 16 February 1325).<ref>Roy Martin Haines "The Register of John de Stratford, Bishop of Winchester, 1323–1333: Volume 1" pp. 298–299</ref> Nothing definite is known of Stratford's schooling. He studied at Oxford (not at Merton College, as claimed by the 17th Century antiquarian Anthony Wood, but probably Baliol, whom he remembered in his will),<ref>Roy Martin Haines "The Register of John de Stratford, Bishop of Winchester, 1323–1333: Volume 1" Introduction pp. xvii–xviii</ref> and by 1312 he was entitled doctor of civil law. He entered the service of Worcester Priory, but initially his beneficial progress was slow. However, by 1317 he was rector of Holy Trinity, Stratford, and acting as official of Bishop John Dalderby of Lincoln (d. 1320), whose executor he became. From Lincoln he migrated to Canterbury, and the service of Archbishop Walter Reynolds (d. 1327). He was dean of the court of arches in the early 1320s, by which time he held a useful portfolio of benefices, including canonries at Lichfield, Lincoln, and York, as well as the archdeaconry of Lincoln.<ref name="oxforddnb.com">Roy Martin Haines, ‘Stratford, John (c.1275–1348)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26645, accessed 28 May 2014]</ref>