AYLMER

aylmer, john (1521-1594), english divine, was born in the year 1521 at aylmer hall, tivetshall st mary, norfolk. while still a boy, his precocity was noticed by henry grey, marquis of dorset, afterwards duke of suffolk, who sent him to cambridge, where he seems to have become a fellow of queens' college. about 1541 he was made chaplain to the duke, and tutor to his daughter, lady jane grey. his first preferment was to the archdeaconry of stow, in the diocese of lincoln, but his opposition in convocation to the doctrine of transubstantiation led to his deprivation and to his flight into switzerland. while there he wrote a reply to john knox's famous _blast against the monstrous regiment of women_, under the title of _an harborowe for faithfull and trewe subjects, &c._, and assisted john foxe in translating the _acts of the martyrs_ into latin. on the accession of elizabeth he returned to england. in 1559 he resumed the stow archdeaconry, and in 1562 he obtained that of lincoln. he was a member of the famous convocation of 1562, which reformed and settled the doctrine and discipline of the church of england. in 1576 he was consecrated bishop of london, and while in that position made himself notorious by his harsh treatment of all who differed from him on ecclesiastical questions, whether puritan or papist. various efforts were made to remove him to another see. he is frequently assailed in the famous _marprelate tracts_, and is characterized as "morrell," the bad shepherd, in spenser's _shepheard's calendar_ (july). his reputation as a scholar hardly balances his inadequacy as a bishop in the transition time in which he lived. he died in june 1594. his life was written by john strype (1701). aymara (anc. _colla_), a tribe of south american indians, formerly inhabiting the country around lake titicaca and the neighbouring valleys of the andes. they form now the chief ethnical element in bolivia, but are of very mixed blood. in early days the home of the aymaras by lake titicaca was a "holy land" for the incas themselves, whose national legends attributed the origin of all quichua (inca) civilization to that region. the aymaras, indeed, seem to have possessed a very considerable culture before their conquest by the incas in the 13th and 14th centuries, evidence of which remains in the megalithic ruins of tiahuanaco. when the spaniards arrived the aymaras had been long under the inca domination, and were in a decadent state. they, however, retained certain privileges, such as the use of their own language; and their treatment by their conquerors generally suggested that the latter believed themselves of aymara blood. physically, the pure aymara is short and thick-set, with a great chest development, and with the same reddish complexion, broad face, black eyes and rounded forehead which distinguish the quichuas. like the latter, too, the aymaras are sullen and apathetic in disposition. they number now, including half-breeds, about half a million in bolivia. some few are also found in southern peru. see _journal ethnol. society_ (1870), "the aymara indians of bolivia and peru."