Christopher Vitell (or Viret) (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1543–1579), a Dutch carpenter or joiner from

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, was the first Familist preacher in England; though he subsequently recanted his belief when faced with death by burning. Robert Wallace; ''Antitrinitarian Biography: or, Sketches of the lives and writings of distinguished Antitrinitarians''; 3 vol. London, 1850. Vitell appears to have developed his

Anabaptist Anabaptism (from New Latin language, Neo-Latin , from the Greek language, Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re- ...

beliefs from the Dutchman

Henry Nicholis Hendrik Nicholis (or Hendrik Niclaes, Henry Nichlaes, Heinrich Niclaes; c. 1501 – c. 1580) was a German mystic and founder of the proto-deist sect "Familia Caritatis" (a.k.a. "Family of Love","''Familia Caritatis''" or "''Hus der Lieften''"). ...

Life

A native of

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, settled in England some time before the middle of the sixteenth century. He changed views in religion, professing

Arianism Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...

under Queen Mary, and being imprisoned in Wood Street, London, until on Elizabeth's succession he recanted his errors before

Edmund Grindal Edmund Grindal ( 15196 July 1583) was Bishop of London, Archbishop of York, and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I. Though born far from the centres of political and religious power, he had risen rapidly in the church durin ...

St. Paul's Cross St Paul's Cross (alternative spellings – "Powles Crosse") was a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. It was the most important public pulpit in Tudor and early Stuart England, and many ...

. Eventually, however, Vitell became a convert to the teaching of Nicholis (Henrik Niclaes), the founder of the Familists or ‘Family of Love.’ He wandered up and down in

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

spreading mystical doctrines, and found a hearing at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, Willingham and

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Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

Strethall Strethall is a village and a civil parish in the Uttlesford District, in the English county of Essex, near the town of Saffron Walden. Having suffered no casualties in World War I it is known as one of the thankful villages. The Icknield Way Pa ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, at

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

(where he was living at Michaelmas 1555), and other places. He became a chief elder in the family, and translated into English the writings of Niclaes, and one or two by Elidad and Fidelitas, his seniors. The result of Vitell's translation was a proclamation issued in 1580 by Archbishop Grindal against the ‘family’ and all their writings. There is no authentic record of his later life.

Works

Eight of the treatises—‘The Prophetie of the Spirit of Love,’ ‘A Publishing of the Peace upon Earth,’ ‘A joyful Message of the Kingdom,’ ‘Proverbs,’ ‘Documentall Sentences,’ ‘Correction and Exhortation out of Heartie Loue,’ ‘A good and fruitfull Exhortation,’ ‘A Distinct Declaration’—were printed abroad in 1574 and covertly introduced into England. They occasioned the attack of John Rogers, ‘The Displaying of an Horrible Sect,’ 1578, to which Vitell replied in a work not extant, entitled ‘Testimonies of Sion of the great Stone of Foundation layd therein of Judgement and Righteousness and of holy Priesthood, and spiritual Oblation through Jesus Christ brought forth through the Lord's elected minister Henry Nicholas.’ This was reprinted and answered, paragraph by paragraph, by Rogers in his ‘Answere vnto a wicked and infamous Libel made by Christopher Vitels, one of the chiefe English Elders of the pretended Family of Loue’

578 __NOTOC__ Year 578 ( DLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 578 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

another ed. 1579.

Life

Works

References

Further reading