Thomas Bailey or Bayly (died c. 1657) was a seventeenth-century

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

religious controversialist, a

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman who converted to

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

Biography

Bailey's father was

Lewis Bayly Lewis Bayly (died 26 October 1631) was a bishop of the Church of England. Life Bayly is thought to have been born in either Carmarthen or Biggar, Scotland, the curate of Carmarthen, Thomas Bayly, may have been his father. He was educated at ...

, Bishop of Bangor, and a brother was the scholar and clergyman John Bayly (1595/6–1633). Bailey was educated at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

. He began as a priest within his father's diocese; in 1634 he became Rector of Holgate, Shropshire, and in 1638 the sub-dean of Wells. He served as a commissioned officer in defence of

Raglan Castle Raglan Castle () is a Late Middle Ages, late medieval castle located just north of the village of Raglan, Monmouthshire, Raglan in the county of Monmouthshire in south east Wales. The modern castle dates from between the 15th and early 17th cent ...

in 1646, and was briefly imprisoned in

Newgate gaol Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey, just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, the pris ...

for writing against the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

after

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

was executed in 1649. In that year he also defended Charles against allegations that he had been a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. In ''Certamen Religiosum'' he reported on religious discussions from 1646 between Charles and

Henry Somerset, 1st Marquess of Worcester Henry Somerset, 1st Marquess of Worcester (1577 – 18 December 1646) was an English aristocrat, who was a prominent and financially important Royalist during the early years of the English Civil War. Life He was the son of Edward Somerset, 4th ...

, at Raglan Castle. Bailey attended the Marquess, as his chaplain. The work proved controversial, and was attacked by

Hamon L'Estrange Hamon L'Estrange (1605–1660) was an English writer on history, theology and liturgy, of Calvinist views, loyal both to Charles I of England, Charles I and the Church of England. Along with Edward Stephens (d. 1706), he contributed to the seve ...

, Christopher Cartwright, and

Peter Heylyn Peter Heylyn or Heylin (29 November 1599 – 8 May 1662) was an English ecclesiastic and author of many polemical, historical, political and theological tracts. He incorporated his political concepts into his geographical books ''Microcosm ...

. However, Bailey then made his way to Europe, and had himself converted to Catholicism by the time of his 1654 ''End to Controversy''. A ''Life'' of

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Chu ...

was issued under Bailey's name in 1655, though it was in fact a re-publication of a much earlier text which Richard Hall (died 1604) had translated into Latin.John J. LaRocca
‘Hall, Richard (c.1537–1604)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 20 Dec 2007

Works

*''The royal charter granted unto kings, by God himself'', 1649 *''Certamen religiosum'', 1649 *''An End to Controversy between the Roman Catholique and the Protestant Religions Justified'', 1654

References

External links

Thompson Cooper Thompson Cooper (8 January 1837 – 5 March 1904) was an English journalist, man of letters, and compiler of reference works. He became a specialist in biographical information, and is noted as the most prolific contributor to the Victorian e ...

‘Bayly, Thomas (d. c.1657)’
rev. Stephen Wright, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 20 Dec 2007 1657 deaths Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge 17th-century English Anglican priests Cavaliers Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism English Roman Catholics 17th-century Roman Catholics Year of birth unknown {{RC-bio-stub