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London Underground Church
The London underground church was an illegal puritan group in the time of Elizabeth I and James I. It began as a radical fringe of the Church of England, but split from the Church and later became part of the Brownist or puritan Separatist movement. William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Plantation, cited the underground church as the first that ‘professed and practised the cause’ of the Pilgrim Fathers. Marian underground The underground Protestant church in London in Queen Mary's time was a forerunner of the Elizabethan underground church. It formed in response to the Queen's decision to make the Catholic Church in England and Wales to once again be the State religion and to her simultaneous religious persecution of Protestants. It began with 20 people and grew to 200. They met in inns and private houses. Underground ministers in London included Thomas Rose, the martyr John Rough, Augustine Bernher, and Thomas Bentham who under Elizabeth became Bishop of Coventry and Lic ...
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Puritans
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. Puritanism played a significant role in English history, especially during the Protectorate. Puritans were dissatisfied with the limited extent of the English Reformation and with the Church of England's toleration of certain practices associated with the Roman Catholic Church. They formed and identified with various religious groups advocating greater purity of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and corporate piety. Puritans adopted a Reformed theology, and in that sense they were Calvinists (as were many of their earlier opponents). In church polity, some advocated separation from all other established Christian denominations in favour of autonomous gathered churches. These English Dissenters, Separatist and Indepe ...
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Puritanism
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. Puritanism played a significant role in English history, especially during the Protectorate. Puritans were dissatisfied with the limited extent of the English Reformation and with the Church of England's toleration of certain practices associated with the Roman Catholic Church. They formed and identified with various religious groups advocating greater purity of worship and doctrine, as well as personal and corporate piety. Puritans adopted a Reformed theology, and in that sense they were Calvinists (as were many of their earlier opponents). In church polity, some advocated separation from all other established Christian denominations in favour of autonomous gathered churches. These Separatist and Independent strands of Puritanism became ...
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Martin Marprelate
Martin Marprelate (sometimes printed as Martin Mar-prelate and Marre–Martin) was the name used by the anonymous author or authors of the seven Marprelate tracts that circulated illegally in England in the years 1588 and 1589. Their principal focus was an attack on the episcopacy of the Anglican Church. Background In 1583, the appointment of John Whitgift as Archbishop of Canterbury had signalled the beginning of a drive against the Presbyterian movement in the church, and an era of censorship began. In 1586, by an edict of the Star Chamber, the archbishop was empowered to license and control all of the printing apparatus in the country. Identity and authorship The true identity of "Martin" was for a long time the subject of speculation. For many years, the main candidate was John Penry, a Welsh preacher and author of several impassioned polemics against the state of the church. Renaissance historian John Dover Wilson posited, in his 1912 book ''Martin Marprelate and Shakes ...
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John Penry
John Penry (1563 – 29 May 1593), who was executed for high treason during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, is Wales' most famous Protestant Separatist martyr. Early life He was born in Brecknockshire, Wales; Cefn Brith, a farm near Llangammarch, is traditionally recognised as his birthplace. His parents were Meredydd (Meredith) Penry and Eleanor (nee Godley). He matriculated at Peterhouse, Cambridge, in December 1580, being then probably a Roman Catholic, but soon became a Protestant, with strong Puritan tendencies. Having graduated B.A., he moved to St Alban Hall, Oxford, and gained his M.A. in July 1586. He did not seek ordination, but was licensed as University Preacher. Career as a preacher and pamphleteer There is not much evidence for his preaching tours in Wales; they could only have been made during a few months of 1586 or the autumn of 1587. In 1562 an act of parliament had made provision for translating the Bible into Welsh, and the New Testament was issue ...
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Francis Johnson (Brownist)
Francis Johnson (March 1562 – January 1618) was an English separatist, or Brownist, minister, pastor to an English exile congregation in the Netherlands. Early life Francis was the elder son of John Johnson, mayor of Richmond, North Riding of Yorkshire, born at Richmond and baptised there on 27 March 1562. George Johnson was his brother. He matriculated at Christ's College, Cambridge, graduated B.A. 1581, M.A. 1585, and was elected fellow before Lady day 1584. He was a popular preacher in the university, and a follower of the independent presbyterianism advocated by Thomas Cartwright. On 6 January 1589 he expounded this view in a sermon at Great St. Mary's, Cambridge, claiming that church government by elders is ''jure divino''. With Cuthbert Bainbrigg, also a fellow of Christ's, accused of factious preaching, he on 23 January came up before Thomas Nevile, the vice-chancellor. Refusing to answer on oath to the articles of accusation, Johnson and Bainbrigg were committ ...
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John Whitgift
John Whitgift (c. 1530 – 29 February 1604) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horses. Whitgift's theological views were often controversial. Early life and education He was the eldest son of Henry Whitgift, a merchant, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where he was born, probably between 1530 and 1533. The Whitgift family is thought to have originated in the relatively close Yorkshire village of Whitgift, adjoining the River Ouse. Whitgift's early education was entrusted to his uncle, Robert Whitgift, abbot of the neighbouring Wellow Abbey, on whose advice he was sent to St Anthony's School, London. In 1549 he matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and in May 1550 he moved to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where the martyr John Bradford was his tutor. In May 1555 he was elected a fellow of Peterhouse. Lin ...
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Bridewell Palace
Bridewell Palace in London was built as a residence of King Henry VIII and was one of his homes early in his reign for eight years. Given to the City of London Corporation by his son King Edward VI for use as an orphanage and place of correction for wayward women, Bridewell later became the first prison/poorhouse to have an appointed doctor. It was built on the banks of the Fleet River in the City of London between Fleet Street and the River Thames in an area today known as Bridewell Place, off New Bridge Street. By 1556 part of it had become a jail known as Bridewell Prison. It was reinvented with lodgings and was closed in 1855 and the buildings demolished in 1863–1864. The name "Bridewell" subsequently became a common name for a jail, used not only in England but in other cities colonised by Britain including Dublin, Chicago and New York. History Bridewell Palace The palace was built on the site of the medieval St Bride's Inn directly south of St Bride's Church at ...
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Robert Browne (Brownist)
Robert Browne (1550s – 1633) was the founder of the Brownists, a common designation for early Separatists from the Church of England before 1620. In later life he was reconciled to the established church and became an Anglican priest. Biography Browne was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Little Casterton, Rutland, England, about 1550,Robert Browne of Lilford
Lilford Hall, accessed 20 November 2020
and was the third of seven children of Anthony Browne and his wife Dorothy, a daughter of Sir Philip Boteler. In 1572 he graduated from . It was probably while Browne was at Corpus Christi that he first met
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John Greenwood (divine)
John Greenwood (1556 – 6 April 1593) was an English Separatist Puritan, or Brownist, minister and was executed for his faith. He led the London Underground Church from 1587 to 1593 and wrote several works of Brownist apologetics, working closely with Henry Barrow. Life John Greenwood was born in 1556 in Heptonstall, West Riding, Yorkshire, England. He entered as a sizar at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on 18 March 1577 – 1578, and commenced B.A. 1581. Whether he was directly influenced by the teaching of Robert Browne, a graduate of the same college, is uncertain; in any case he held strong Puritan opinions, which ultimately led him to Separatism of the most rigid type. In 1581 he was chaplain to Lord Rich, at Rochford, Essex. He had been made deacon by John Aylmer, Bishop of London, and priest by Thomas Cooper, Bishop of Lincoln. He was appointed Vicar of All Saints, Rackheath, in Norfolk, just five miles from the surviving Brownist church of Norwich. Arou ...
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Henry Barrowe
Henry Barrow (or Barrowe) ( – 6 April 1593) was an English Separatist Puritan, or Brownist, executed for his views. He led the London Underground Church from 1587 to 1593, spending most of that time in prison, and wrote numerous works of Brownist apologetics, most notably ''A Brief Discoverie of the False Church''. Life Barrow was born about 1550, in Norfolk, of a family related by marriage to Nicholas Bacon, and probably to John Aylmer, Bishop of London. He matriculated at Clare College, Cambridge (then called Clare Hall), in November 1566, and graduated B.A. in 1569–1570. Afterwards he "followed the court" for some time, leading a frivolous if not licentious life.Lobb, Dr. Douglas L., "The Grand Idea: Is it Jus ...
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John Knox
John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgate, a street in Haddington, East Lothian, Knox is believed to have been educated at the University of St Andrews and worked as a notary-priest. Influenced by early church reformers such as George Wishart, he joined the movement to reform the Scottish church. He was caught up in the and political events that involved the murder of Cardinal David Beaton in 1546 and the intervention of the regent Mary of Guise. He was taken prisoner by French forces the following year and exiled to England on his release in 1549. While in exile, Knox was licensed to work in the Church of England, where he rose in the ranks to serve King Edward VI of England as a royal chaplain. He exerted a reforming influence on the text of the '' Book of Common Pray ...
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