Entry for the Parish of
St Anne
's, Blackfriars
, 10 Jan. 1606 ,
citing
Jonson
and his wife
for recusancy, from
A Book of Corrections or Presentments of the Consistory Court of
London
. Also mentioned are
Mr Handser
, evidently a clergyman, John Overall (1560-1619,
divine, dean of
St Paul's, later bishop)
, Dr Thomas Moundeford (1550-1630,
physician)
, Zacharias
Pasfield (d. 1616, divine; chaplain to the archbp of Canterbury)
, Dr Lovell (chaplain to the archbp of
Canterbury), Dr Spencer (d. 1614, divine; vicar of St Sepulchre's)
, and Dr John
Dix (d. 1613, divine; rector of St Andrew's
Undershaft)
. The record occupies two
pages of the register, with the original charge written in one hand, and the ruling
inserted in a cramped hand between other charges.
Jonson
's fines for not attending chuch total thirteen shillings.
Eugene Giddens
[fol. 23v]
Beniaminum Iohnson et
vxordictae parochiae
xijd
xijd
Pasch 4 xviijd
4 xviijd
2 a sessione
Te Pasch
Cl. Gard in Pasch.
Presented, that they refuse not to come to divyne servis but have absented
them selves from the Communion beinge oftentymes admonished
which hathe continued as farr as we can learne ever since the
kinge came in he is a poett andis by fame a seducer of youthe to ye popishe
religion.
[handwriting changes here]
26th Aprilis 1606 comparuit dictus
Beniamyn Iohnson of tamnomin e suo
quamvxo ris suae
humliliter petijt absolucionem a
sententia excommunicationis
adversus eos lata cui dominus
objecit detectiones respondentem
that
he hath refused
bothe he & his wife doe goe ordinaryly to
churche and to his owne parish churche & so hath don this halfe
yeare but for their receyving he sayethe he hathe refused to ['
Attor< . >
Asce Ex' added in the margin.] receive the communion
vntill he shall be resolved either by the minister of the parishe or
someother in the scruple he maketh therein but his wife he sayeth
for ay thing he knowthe hathe gon to churche & vsed alwayes to receive the
communion & is appoynted to receyve the
communion to morrow Towching the last part of this
presentment for his seduceing of youthe, he
vtterly denyeth bothe the fact & fame therof or euergoing about
to seduce or perswade ay to the popishe religion;
vnderdns facta per omnia fid de
parendo iuri et stando mandatis Ecclie Anglicane dns eos absolvit And for his &
his wives going to churche that he bring certificat vnder
[continuing at the bottom of the
page] vnder the minister Mr handser & the churchwardens hande
of their diligent & ⎡ordinarie⎤ going to churche ʌ ⎡to divine
servis & sermons⎤ hereafter, the first Court day of the next terme & of their so
continuge/
Towching his owne not receyving for that he alleagethe some scruple
of conscience whearein he desyrethe to be satisfied having as he
confesseth heretofore byn of some other opinion in
Religion which now vppon better advisement
is
he is determined to alter he desyreth such learned men to be
ad
assigned vnto hym to confer with all he
promising to conforme him selfe according as they shall advise
him & perswade him
< . . . . . <the judge>
[Words supplied by Fincham
(1921)]
> dns
⎡
< . . . . . . >
⎤ doeth name vnto him mr deane of Pales, Doctor Monford one of
the Residentiaries the Doctor
Lovell & mr Pasfield my Lord of
Canturbury his chaplens with whom he sayeth he
hath someacquaintance Doctor
pastor of S Andrewes Vndershaft &he is
ordered to attend someone of thes at his own choys twice a week &
certify of his so doing & how he is satisfied
in his conscience
⎡
when he
& resolved vnder⎤ the last Court day of the next terme/ Towching the
[continuing at the bottom of fol. 24]
the last
par t of the presentment for
asmuche as he bothe hathe denyed that euerhe went about to seduce any
< . . >
pro testants to popery & for he hath vtterly
denyed the fame thereof he neuer g [
<i>
] ving cause therof and being therevppon desyrous the
Churchwardens or ay body should iustify howe they can chardg him herin the Iudg
doeth decree the Churchwardens & swornmen that presented him to
be called into the Court the first Court Day of this next Terme to specefy
what particulars they haue to chardg him towching the same
presentment And he the same Iohnson is monished to
be then ther to
be
see farther proseeding
in this cause
Bibliography
H&S, 1.220-2
Fincham (1921), 103-39, transcription on
pp. 109-11
Stow,
320-21
Blackfriars was the former location of the Dominican foundation in London , south-west of St Paul's. It retained the right of sanctuary, and in the early seventeenth century was home to many fashionable people (including, for example, the earl and countess of Somerset , and Jonson 's patron and friend Esmè Stuart, Lord Aubigny), many of whom lived in converted monastic buildings. Two parts of the former monastery housed the first and second Blackfriars theatres, in 1577-1584 and 1596- respectively; a number of Jonson 's plays were first performed here by the resident boys' companies. Blackfriars was also known as a Puritan neighbourhood, with many of its Puritan residents being engaged in the trade of feathermaking.
Anne Lewis , here unnamed, is virtually invisible in Jonson 's life records, appearing only in the record of her marriage (L1594_10) and this and the two other related recusancy citations (L1606_30, L1606_50).
Overall entered St John's, Cambridge in 1575, and graduated BA and was admitted to Trinity as a scholar in 1578. By 1596 he was a senior fellow, DD and regius professor of theology. In 1598 he became master of St Catharine's, which position he held until 1607. Theologically he was a moderate, which brought him into conflict with William Perkins and others of a more Calvinist bent. He spoke on the predestination controversy at the Hampton Court conference (16 Jan. 1604), and later that year was responsible for the enlargement of the catechism by adding the section concerned with the sacraments. He was appointed dean of St Paul's on 29 May 1602; in 1605 he was elected prolocutor of the lower house in the convocation of Canterbury. He worked on the 1611 Authorised Version as part of the committee charged with the revision of the Old Testament up to 2 Kings. In 1614 he became bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and was translated to Norwich in 1618, where he died and was buried the following year.
Moundeford lived in Milk Street, and was treasurer of the Royal College of Physicians in 1608. He was its president in 1612-14, 1619 and 1621-23.
Pasfield matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1582 and graduated BA 1587, MA 1590, BD 1597, and DD 1607. He was a fellow of Trinity from 1589. He was ordained at Peterborough, and became vicar of Trumpington in 1599. He was a prebendary of St Paul's from 1601 until his death in 1616.
He was educated at Oxford (BA 1577, fellow of Corpus Christi 1579, MA 1581, BD 1590, DD 1602). He was a member of Gray's Inn in 1601 and president of Corpus Christi 1607-14. He became a fellow of Chelsea College in 1610, and was also a chaplain to James I. He was vicar of St Sepulchre's from 1599 until his death in 1614; he is buried in the chapel at Corpus Christi.
Born in Norwich, Dix was admitted as a pensioner at Corpus Christi, Cambridge in 1570, matriculated in 1575, and graduated BA 1578, MA 1581, BD 1588, and DD 1598. He was a fellow 1580-91, was ordained in 1580, and was University Preacher in 1588. He was Rector of St Andrew Undershaft from 1597-1613, sub-almoner to the queen , and a prebendary of St Paul's.