an English clothier and diarist in 16th century London. Machyn's Chronicle, which was written between 1550 and 1563, is primarily concerned with public events: changes on the throne, state visits, insurrections, executions and festivities. Machyn wrote his diary during a turbulent period in England: the Reformation, initiated by Henry VIII and carried through by Edward VI, was followed by the return to Catholicism (and burning of heretics) under Queen Mary I of England. Judging from his enthusiastic account of the disinterment of Edward the Confessor in 1557, Machyn was apparently a Catholic himself.
