William Barret ('' fl''. 1595) was an English

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Life

He matriculated as a pensioner of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, on 1 February 1579–80. He proceeded to his M.A. degree in 1588, and was soon afterwards elected fellow of Caius College. In a ''Concio ad Clerum,'' preached by him for the degree of B.D. at

Church of St Mary the Great, Cambridge St Mary the Great is a Church of England parish and university church at the north end of King's Parade in central Cambridge, England. It is known locally as Great St Mary's or simply GSM to distinguish it from " Little St Mary's". It is one of ...

, on 29 April 1595, he violently attacked the

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

tenets, then popular at Cambridge. While rejecting the doctrine of assurance and of the indefectibility of grace, he also handled with unusual freedom the names of Calvin, Peter Martyr, and other believers in unconditioned reprobation. This public attack was not allowed to pass unnoticed. The vice-chancellor, Dr. Dupont, conferred privately with Barret, who, however, remained contumacious, and was next summoned before the heads of colleges. After several conferences, in which Barret acknowledged the justice of the inferences drawn from his sermon, he was ordered to recant. He accordingly read a prescribed form of withdrawal at St. Mary's, on 10 May 1595, but in an "unreverend manner", significant of his unchanged views. On the 20th, some forty fellows memorialised the vice-chancellor in favour of Barret's punishment. Once more he was summoned before the heads of colleges, and threatened with expulsion. But taking advantage of a libellous account of his sermon circulated by the authorities of St. John's, he appealed to Archbishop Whitgift, a course also adopted by his accusers. The primate, in reply, censured the hasty proceedings of the heads of colleges, who upon this appealed to Lord Burghley, their chancellor, asking permission to punish Barret. The chancellor at first gave his assent, which he withdrew at the request of Whitgift. The heads now saw that they had gone too far, and in the month of September wrote to the primate, begging that he would settle the matter by inquiry into Barret's opinions. The accused was therefore summoned to

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament of the United King ...

, and required to answer certain questions sent down from Cambridge. At a second meeting, he was confronted with a deputation headed by Whitaker, and at last consented to make another recantation. This seems to have been done after many delays. In March 1597, the archbishop warned the authorities that Barret was contemplating flight; but he had set out before the letter reached them. Whilst on the continent Barret embraced the

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faith, and eventually returned to England, where he lived as a layman till his death.

Legacy

The fruit of this controversy is seen in the so-called

Lambeth Articles The Lambeth Articles of 1595 were nine doctrinal statements on the topic of predestination proposed by the bishops of the Church of England. At the time, there was controversy between Calvinists and non-Calvinists over predestination, and the Lambe ...

. Barret is by some identified with the publisher, who prefixed a letter to his own edition of Robert Southwell's works, entitled ''St. Peter's Complainte, Mary Magdal Teares, with other works of the author, R. S.,'' London, 1620 and 1630.

Notes

References

;Attribution *; Endnotes: **Prynne's ''Church of England's New Antithesis to Old Arminianism'', 1629, pages 12, 42, 121, 134 **''Canterburies Doome'', 1646, pages 164, 176 **''God no Deluder'', p. 29 **Fuller's ''History of Cambridge'', 1665, p. 150 **Heylyn's ''Hist. Quinqu-Articularis'', 1660, part iii., xx, 69 **Hickman's ''Hist. Quinq-Artic. Exarticulata'', 1674, p. 209 **Howell's ''State Trials'', xxii. 712 **Strype's ''Life of Whitgift'', 1822, ii. 277 **''Annals of the Reformation'', iv. 320, Cooper's ''Athenæ Cantab.,'' 1861, ii. 236. {{DEFAULTSORT:Barret, William Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism 16th-century English Anglican priests