- ‘A moche profitable treatise against the pestilence, translated into ēglyshe by Thomas Paynel, chanon of Martin Abbey,’ T. Berthelet, London, 1534, 12mo (Brit. Mus.)
- Erasmus's ‘Comparation of a Vyrgin and a Martyr,’ T. Berthelet, London, 1537, 12mo, dedicated to John Ramsay, prior of Merton, at whose request Paynell undertook the translation. The only known copy is in the Lambeth Library (Maitland, Early Printed Books in the Lambeth Library, p. 199; cf. Lowndes, i. 750; Ames, ed. Herbert, i. 429; Maunsell, p. 47; Dibdin, iii. 297).
- ‘A Sermon of St. Cyprian made on the Lordes Prayer,’ T. Berthelet, London, 1539, 8vo (Brit. Mus. and Britwell), dedicated to Sir Anthony Denny [q. v.]
- ‘The Conspiracie of Lucius Catiline, translated into englishe by Thomas Paynell, worthy, profitable, and pleasaunt to be read,’ T. Berthelet, 1541 (Britwell and Huth), dedicated to Henry VIII. Another edition, with Barclay's translation of Sallust's ‘Catiline,’ revised by Paynell, was published by J. Waley in 1557, 4to, and dedicated to Anthony Browne, viscount Montagu (Brit. Mus.)
- ‘A compēdious [&] moche fruytefulle treatyse of well livynge, cōtaynyng the whole sume … of all vertue. Wrytten by S. Bernard [&] translated by T. Paynell,’ T. Petyt, London [1545?], 16mo (Lambeth and Brit. Mus.); dedicated to the Lady Mary.
- ‘The Piththy and moost notable sayinges of al Scripture gathered by T. Paynell, after the manner of common places …’ T. Gaultier, London, 1550, 8vo; dedicated to the Lady Mary. Copies are in the British Museum, Britwell, and Bodleian libraries (cf. Strype, Eccl. Mem. i. i. 75, II. i. 415). Another edition, ‘newly augmēted and corrected,’ was published in the same year by W. Copland for R. Jugge (Britwell and Brit. Mus.), and a third in 1560 by W. Copland.
- ‘The faythfull and true storye of the Destruction of Troy, compyled by Dares Phrygius …’ John Cawood, London, 1553, 8vo (Bodleian) (cf. Hazlitt, Handbook, p. 140; Wood, Athenæ, i. 340).
- ‘The Pandectes of the Evangelicall Law, comprisyng the whole Historye of Christes Gospell,’ Nycolas Hyll for Wyllyam Seres and Abraham Vele, 1553, 8vo (Britwell).
- ‘The office and duetie of an husband made by the excellēt Philosopher, L. Vives, and translated into Englyshe by T. Paynell,’ J. Cawood, London [1553], 8vo (Brit. Mus. and Britwell). The date is determined by the dedication to ‘Sir Anthony Browne,’ who was created Viscount Montagu on 2 Sept. 1554; it refers to his intention to marry again (his first wife died on 22 July 1552), and Cawood is described as printer to the ‘Queenes highnesse’ (i.e. Queen Mary).
- ‘Certaine godly and devout prayers made in latin by the reverend father in God, Cuthbert Tunstall, bishop of Durham,’ London, John Cawoode, 1558, 12mo (Brit. Mus.); dedicated to Queen Mary.
- ‘The Complaint of Peace …’ Jhon Cawoode, 1559, 8vo (Brit. Mus. and Britwell); translation of Erasmus's ‘Querela Pacis,’ reprinted in 1802.
- ‘The Civilitie of Childehoode, with the discipline and institution of children … translated out of Frenche,’ John Tisdale, 1560, 8vo (Hazlitt, Collections, i. 101); apparently a version of Erasmus's ‘De civilitate morum puerilium libellus,’ which was translated into English by Udall in 1542.
- ‘The Ensamples of Vertue and Vice gathered out of holye scripture … By N. Hanape. And Englyshed by T. Paynell,’ John Tisdale [1561], 8vo; dedicated to Queen Elizabeth (cf. ARBER, i. 153) (Brit. Mus. and Britwell).
- ‘A frutefull booke of the common places of all St. Pauls Epistles … sette foorthe by T. Paniell,’ J. Tisdale, 1562, 8vo (Brit. Mus., Bodleian, and Britwell); dedicated to Thomas Argall.
- ‘The moste excellent and pleasaunt booke entituled ‘The treasurie of Amadis of Fraunce … translated out of Frenche,’ Thomas Hacket [1568], 4to (Brit. Mus. without title-page). The ‘Stationers' Register’ for 1567–8 assigns the authorship to ‘Thomas Pannell.’ Paynell also edited and wrote a preface for Richard Benese's ‘Boke of Measurynge of Lande’ [1537?], 4to; other editions were 1540? 1562, and 1564?
1730 (Brit. Mus.) This work is, except the title-page, identical with ‘Of the wood called Guaiacum, that healeth the Frenche Pockes …’ [translated by T. Paynell], T. Berthelet, London, 1536, 8vo (Brit. Mus. and Britwell). Other editions appeared in 1539 and 1540 (Brit. Mus.)
He likewise supplied a table for the 1557 edition of the works of Sir Thomas More. Other works which Wood and Bale attribute to him have not been identified.
Paynell is confused by Wood, Cooper, and others with a contemporary Thomas Paynell or Parnell, apparently one of the Paynells of Lincolnshire, who was born at Boothby Pagnell or Paynell, and educated at Louvain under Robert Barnes [q. v.], then an Augustinian friar. When Barnes became prior of the Austin friars at Cambridge, Paynell went thither with him, and together ‘they made the house of the Augustinians very famous for good and godly literature’ (Athenæ Cantabr. i. 78). It may be he who was in the king's service at Boston in 1538, and wrote to Cromwell certifying the suppression of the friars' houses there, and urging the application of the building materials to the repair of the haven and town (Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd ser. iv.
