John Philpot

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For other people named John Philpot, see John Philpot (disambiguation).

John Philpot (1515[1]–16 December 1555) was an Archdeacon of Winchester and an English Protestant martyr. The story of his imprisonment and execution is recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

Early life and family[2][edit]

John Philpot was the third son of Sir Peter Philpot and Agnes Troyes. He was born at Compton,[3][failed verification] Hampshire, in 1515. He had seven brothers, William, Thomas, Edward, Henry, Richard, Anthony and Francis, and three sisters, Jane, Anne and Elizabeth. William was rector of Compton from 1534 but died in 1535/36. Thomas, the second eldest brother was judged "a wandering lunatic" in 1538 but recovered by 1556 and was able to claim all his late father's estates. He died in 1586 and was the only son of Sir Peter to have male heirs. Henry had inherited most of his father's estates but lost custody of them upon the recovery of his elder brother Thomas. The male heirs of (Sir) Thomas died out in the 1650s[4].

Education[edit]

He was educated at Winchester College, where he had as a contemporary John Harpsfield, with whom he made a bet that he would write two hundred verses in one night without making more than three faults, which he did. In due course he went to New College, Oxford, where he was Fellow from 1534 to 1541. Anthony Wood claims that his Fellowship was made void in 1541 because of his prolonged absence from the College[5] He had graduated B.C.L (Bachelor of Civil Law).[6]

As a Fellow of New College, Oxford, he came under the charge of Thomas Cromwell's zealous enforcer of monastery closures, Dr John London, Warden since 1528. New College at the time was a crucible for orthodox and radically Protestant views where Frith's A Disputacyon of Purgatory[7] was widely circulated. it is probable that John Philpot became a protégé of Thomas Cromwell from around 1536[8].

Travels[edit]

In February 1538 John Husee, Lord Lisle's agent, writing to Lady Lisle, extolled the virtues of Sir Peter Philpot's third son and arrangements were made for him to travel to Calais to join the Lord Deputy of Calais' household. It would appear that he stayed there for only a short time before setting out for Italy. In 1540 a certain Clement Philpot, a member of the Lord Lisle's household was executed for treason. It has been assumed elsewhere that Clement was the third son of Sir Peter Philpot. The evidence is that Clement Philpot was no relation of John Philpot's family.[9]

The enactment of the Six Articles in 1539 may have provided the incentive for him to travel abroad. He certainly visited Rome where he assisted John Christopherson, who, later, as bishop of Chichester, was one of Philpot's interrogators at his trial [10] Between Venice and Padua he fell into an argument with a Franciscan friar , and very narrowly escaped the inquisition in consequence. In Padua he came under the influence of Coelius Secundus Curio who held the chair of Humanist Letters there from 1536 to 1541 and he translated Curio's Pro Vera at Antiqua Ecclesiae Christi Autoritate into Defence of the Old and Ancient Authority of Christ's Church.

Return to Winchester[edit]

On his return to Winchester, according to his own account, he was promised by bishop Stephen Gardiner the post of archdeacon upon the death of the incumbent[11]. However, wherever he could, he preached his strongly held Protestant views including lectures on the Epistles of Saint Paul to the Romans[12] and by 1548 had become a serious source of irritation to the bishop who wrote to Protector Somerset (Edward Seymour) complaining about Philpot's behaviour, by which Philpot would "infect by contagion" those who talked with him and they would be "entered into madness."[13]. Gardiner was deprived of his bishopric in 1550.

Early in 1552 he was appointed archdeacon of Winchester. He succeeded William Boleyn who had died in February. On 27th May he 'compounded' an agreement to pay the heavy tax on new appointments known as the First Fruits (or Annates)[14]. He was clearly a difficult man. In 1552/53 he took proceedings against Winchester College in the Court of Arches by which the College incurred some considerable expense[15]. Later he had a serious disagreement with his Protestant bishop, John Ponet, whom the registrar Cooke, ' a man who hated pure religion' had stirred up against him. Cooke even set on the archdeacon with his servants as if to murder him[15].

Convocation and Imprisonment[edit]

After the accession of Mary Tudor to the English throne a Convocation was called for October 1553. Most of the delegates attending the Convocation were "new men" but half a dozen or so adhered to the Protestant beliefs which had been strongly advocated during the previous reign. The Convocation was held in St. Paul's cathedral from 20th to 30th October. One of the attending Protestants was John Philpot. He left an account of the Disputationis (see Writings below) that took place at the Convocation. His Disputationis were published within the next two years for they were known to his interrogators at his trial in late 1555. They are written in the third person and include extensive dialogue largely between Philpot and a number of senior churchmen. Amongst other things he strongly defended the views of the current Catechism (now disavowed by his interlocutors), and argued over the Sacrament and the Catholic belief in transubstantiation.

The Convocation ended on the 30th October and Philpot was taken away to the King's Bench prison in Southwark. He remained in prison for the remaining two years of his life. During this time he managed to smuggle out of the prison his Disputationis, some letters and, much later on, during his trial his 'Examinations', that is, the account of most of his trial. Most of the letters are intended to provide spiritual comfort to persons unknown, three are to John Careless, a fellow prisoner, five are to Lady Elizabeth Fane (or Vane), a liberal supporter of persecuted Protestants and one is to a sister warning her that she is in danger of "drinking from the cup" of the whore of Babylon, by which he means the Catholic Church. He also asks her to ensure through their brother Thomas that the sureties that stood in for him in 1552 when he entered into an agreement to pay the First Fruits tax would be fully recompensed.

Trial and martyrdom[edit]

In 1554 he was in the King's Bench Prison, and even there he found something to dispute about, as some of his fellow prisoners were Pelagians. In October 1555 he was examined in Newgate sessions house, and, though Bishop Bonner did his best for him, he was convicted.

Writings[edit]

Philpot wrote :

  1. 'Vera Expositio Disputationis', an account of the proceedings in Convocation, printed in Latin at Rome, 1554, and in English at Basle, and afterwards printed in Foxe's ' Actes and Monuments.'
  2. 'Examinations', published London, 1559. Foxe published a Latin translation of this abroad, and it appears in the ' Actes and Monuments.' To one edition of this was added
  3. 'Apologie of John Philpot' written for spitting upon an Arian; a second edition appeared the same year (1559).
  4. 'A Supplication to Philip and Mary,' published by Foxe in the 'Actes and Monuments.'
  5. 'Letters', also published in the 'Actes and Monuments', and separately 1564.
  6. 'Caelius Secundus Curio : his Defence of th' Olde and Awncyent Authoritie off Christe's Churche'; this translation forms Reg. MS. 17, C. ix.
  7. 'De Vero Christiani Sacrificio.'
  8. A translation of Calvin's ' Homilies.'
  9. 'Chrysostome against Heresies.'
  10. 'Epistolae Hebraicae' lib. i.
  11. 'De proprietate Linguarum' lib. i.

The last five are lost. An exhortation to his sister and an oration which forms Bodl. MS. 53 are also small works. There are said to be some manuscripts written by Philpot in the library at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. All the extant works have been published, with an introduction, for the Parker Society by Robert Eden, London, 1842, 8vo.

DNB references[edit]

[Wood's Athenae Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 229 ; Introd. to Parker Soc. edition of Philpot's Works ; Heylyn's Ecclesia Restaurata, i. 68. &c., ii. 109, &c. ; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, xi. 1 247, xii. pt. i. p. 340, cf. p. 430 ; Dixon's Hist, of Church of England, iv. 7–5, &c. ; Foxe's Actes and Monuments, vi. 66, &c., vii. 605, viii. 121, 171 ; Machyn's Diary (Camden Soc.), p. 98 ; Kirby's Winchester Scholars, p. 114.] W. A. J. A.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Payne, Andrew (2021). "John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester and Martyr". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archeological Society. 76: 97.
  2. ^ Payne, Andrew (2021). "John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester & Martyr - 1515-1555". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archeological Society. 76: 114.[unreliable source?]
  3. ^ "Winchester College Register of Scholars". dx.doi.org. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  4. ^ Payne, Andrew (2021). "John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester and Martyr 1515-1555". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archeological Society. 76: 112–115.
  5. ^ Wood, Anthony A (1813). Athenae Oxoniensis: An exact history of all the writers and bishops who have had their education in the University of Oxford Vol.1.
  6. ^ Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Phanne-Popejoy
  7. ^ McGrath, P (1982). Winchester College and the Old Religion in the Sixteenth Century, in Custance, R (ed.) Winchester College Sixth Centenary Essays. Oxford University Press.
  8. ^ Payne, Andrew (2021). "John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester and Martyr - 1515-1555". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archeological Society 2021. 76: 102.
  9. ^ Payne, Andrew (2021). "John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester and Martyr 1515-1555". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archeological Society. 76: 99–100.
  10. ^ Eden, R.(ed.) (1842). The Examinations and Writings of John Philpot. Cambridge University Press. p. 112. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  11. ^ Eden, R. (ed.) (1842). The Examinations and Writings of John Philpot. Cambridge University Press. p. 5. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ Wood, Anthony A (1813). Athenae Oxoniensis: An exact history of all the writers and bishops who have had their education in the University of Oxford Vol.1. p. 229.
  13. ^ Muller, J.A. (1933). The Letters of Stephen Gardiner. Cambridge University Press. pp. 433–435.
  14. ^ Chitty, H. (ed.) (1930). Registra Stephani Gardiner et Johannes Poynet. Oxford University Press. p. 147. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  15. ^ a b Payne, Andrew (2021). "John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester and Martyr 1515-1555". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archeological Society. 76: 104–105.
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