The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Heywood, John
(h´wd) (KEY) , 1497?1580?, English dramatist. He was employed at the courts of Henry VIII and Mary I as a singer, musician, and playwright. At the accession of Elizabeth I in 1564 Heywood, who was a Roman Catholic, fled to Belgium, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Important in the development of English comedy, Heywood was the most famous writer of the interlude, a short comic dialogue. Chief among his interludes are The Play of the Weather (1533) and The Four Ps (c.1543). His other works include epigrams, proverbs, and ballads.