Josias Nicholls and Religious Radicalism, 1553–1639

Peter Clark

doi:10.1017/S0022046900044420

Josias Nicholls and Religious Radicalism, 1553–1639

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011

Peter Clark

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Peter Clark: Affiliation:
Lecturer in Economic History, University of Leicester

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One of the more interesting personalities in the puritan party of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries was the Kentish minister Josias Nicholls (1553–1639). In The Elizabethan Puritan Movement (1967) Professor P. Collinson notes Nicholls's importance on a number of occasions, paying particular attention to his tract The Plea of the Innocent (1602), which Collinson sees as exemplifying many of the attitudes and aspirations of the moderate wing of the party. A number of other works also mention Nicholls briefly and record the bare bones of his career, including his opposition to Whitgift in 1584 and his deprivation in 1602. But Nicholls remains a shadowy figure and the full significance of his contribution to the godly cause unclear.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , April 1977 , pp. 133 - 150

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022046900044420 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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^{page 133 note 1} Collinson, P., The Elizabethan Puritan Movement, London 1967, 129, 166, 248, 321 et passimGoogle Scholar; DNB, Nichols, Josias; Garrett, C., The Marian Exiles, Cambridge 1938, 236 (where he is inaccurately described as the son of Philip Nichols)Google Scholar; Knappen, M. M., Tudor Puritanism, Chicago 1939, 320–1, 496.Google Scholar

^{page 134 note 1} Canterbury Cathedral Library (hereafter CCL), x. 10.19, fol. 114^v–6; AC 2, fol. 24. For a detailed account of the religious changes in early sixteenth century Canterbury see Clark, P., English Provincial Society from the Reformation to the Revolution: Religion, Politics and Society in Kent 1500–1640, Hassocks 1977, chs. 2–3.Google Scholar

^{page 134 note 2} Acts of the Privy Council (hereafter APC), 1558–70, 53–4, 62, 63; CCL, F/A 16, fol. 74^v; CCL, AC 2, fol. 124^v.

^{page 134 note 3} CCL, AC 2, fol. 132^v, 137, 138; Y. 2.22 (unfol.: Panton v. Okeden); x. 10.7, fol. 38^v–39, 136^v–7^v.

^{page 135 note 1} Lambeth Palace Library (hereafter Lambeth PL), MS. 2,001, pp. ii–iv; CCL, Misc. Sessions Papers.

^{page 135 note 2} CCL, AC 2, fol. 138^v, 141, 145–^v, 150^v–51^v; APC, 1558–70, 105.

^{page 135 note 3} CCL, x. 2.24, fol. 65–^v, 69^v–70, 101^v–102; AC 2, fol. 146, 158^v; Dean and Chapter Act Book 1, fol. 28^v.

^{page 135 note 4} CCL, U4/7/2; x. 1.5, fol. 91^v.

^{page 135 note 5} CCL, AC 2, fol. 196, 198, 206; Lambeth PL, MS. 2,002, fol. 117.

^{page 135 note 6} CCL, JQ. 1568; AC 2, fol. 222 ff.; see also Lambeth PL, vv IV/5/3.

^{page 136 note 1} MacCaffrey, W., The Shaping of the Elizabethan Regime, London 1969, 199 ff.CrossRef Google Scholar; Public Record Office (hereafter PRO), SP 12/49/59; SP 12/59/47–8; Thirsk, J., ed., The Agrarian History of England, iv, Cambridge 1967, 853Google Scholar; CCL, AC 2, fol. 197^v ff.; Clark, op. cit., ch. 4.

^{page 136 note 2} Bruce, J. and Perowne, T. T., eds., Correspondence of Mathew Parker D.D., Parker Society 1853, 368Google Scholar; CCL, AC 2, fol. 243^v, 245^v.

^{page 136 note 3} CCL, AC 2, fol. 258, 261; British Library (hereafter BL), Harleian MS. 4,943, fol. 132–33^v; CCL, AC 2, fol. 262^v–63.

^{page 137 note 1} Woodruff, C. E. and Cape, H. J., Schola Regia Cantuarensis, London 1908, 77, 80, 84Google Scholar; Kent Archives Office (hereafter KAO), PRC 21/4/169; Foster, J., Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714, Oxford 1891–1892, iii, 1069Google Scholar (it is not known which college Nicholls attended). Cowper, J. M., The Role of the Freeman of the City of Canterbury, Canterbury 1903, 61Google Scholar; PRO, C2/James 1 N6/69.

^{page 137 note 2} CCL, JQ 1572, 1573; Foster, ibid.

^{page 137 note 3} APC, 1571–75, 85, 145, 157–8, 164; CCL, Railton Papers (Manwood to Railton); AC 2, fol. 296 ff.; JQ 1573, 1574; Cross, F. W., History of the Walloon and Huguenot Church at Canterbury, Huguenot Society Publications, xv, 1898, 15 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 138 note 1} E.g., Walzer, M., The Revolution of the Saints, London 1966, 130 ff.Google Scholar; for the polarising effect of confrontations between Catholics and godly in Lancashire later in the reign see Richardson, R. C., Puritanism in North-West England, Manchester 1972, 161 ff.Google Scholar Elvin was born in Canterbury, educated at the city grammar school, appointed incumbent of Westwell (next to Eastwell) in 1580 and went with Nicholls to the Cambridge synod in 1587 (CCL, x. 11.1, fol. 166^v; BL, Additional MS. 6090, fol. 158; Collinson, op. cit., 321); for Ely and Stibbing: Woodruff and Cape, op. cit., 90; CCL, x. 11.4, fol. 172^v; also Clark, op. cit., ch. 5.

^{page 138 note 2} ibid., ch. 2.

^{page 138 note 3} ibid., ch. 5; PRO, St. Ch. 7/21/8; for Yalding's later radicalism see KAO, DRb/Pa 13, part iii, fol. 159^v.

^{page 139 note 1} Martin, C. W., The History and Description of Leeds Castle, Kent, London 1869, 151 ff.Google Scholar; PRO, SP 12/59/14; Neale, J. E., Elizabeth I and her Parliaments, London 1953–1957, i. 277–8, 381; BL, Addit. MS. 6090, fol. 156.Google Scholar

^{page 139 note 2} J. Nicholls, The Plea of the Innocent (1602), 212–13.

^{page 139 note 3} BL, Lansdowne MS. 42, fol. 187.

^{page 139 note 4} Dr. Williams's Library (hereafter DWL), Morrice MS. B(I), p. 421.

^{page 139 note 5} J. Nicholls, Abrahams Faith (1602), sig. B2.

^{page 139 note 6} The Plea, 12.

^{page 140 note 1} ibid.

^{page 140 note 2} ibid.

^{page 140 note 3} ibid.

^{page 140 note 4} The Plea, 16–18.

^{page 140 note 5} The Plea, 20–21.

^{page 140 note 6} The Plea, 26.

⁷ The Plea, 3.

⁸ The Plea, 29–30.

⁹ The Plea, 28.

¹⁰ The Plea, 29.

^{page 141 note 1} Whitgift's commissary described Nicholls as the ring-leader of the opposition (Strype, J., The Life and Acts of John Whitgift, Oxford 1822, i, 277).Google Scholar DWL, Morrice MS. A, fol. 78^v; Morrice MS. L(V), p. 10; Nicholls, The Plea, 29; CCL, General Register, 2, fol. 78^v; x. 2.4, part i, fol. 167^v.

^{page 141 note 2} Nicholls, The Plea, 21, 29, 139, 159, 162–3; KAO, PRC 39/11, fol. 127–^v; Collinson, op. cit., 322.

^{page 142 note 1} Nicholls, The Plea, 8, 42, 48–50.

^{page 142 note 2} Nicholls, The Plea, 31–2.

^{page 142 note 3} Nicholls, The Plea, 8, 31–4; CCl, x. 2.4, part ii, fol. 152; x. 8.11, fol. 164–^v; x. 11.1, fol. 275^v–77^v; x. 3.8, fol. 43^v; x. 3.5, fol. 104, 139^v–40.

^{page 142 note 4} Nicholls, The Plea, 54–6.

^{page 143 note 1} Nicholls, The Plea, 68–9; CCL, x. 3.8, fol. 60^v.

^{page 143 note 2} Nicholls was reportedly married three times: KAO, U47/3, E2, fol. 43; Bodleian Library (hereafter Bodl.), Gough Kent MS. 8, fol. 14^v; KAO, PRC 39/30, fol. 171.

^{page 143 note 3} CCL, x. 10.17, fol. 93^v; x. 3.8, fol. 60^v. In 1569 Eastwell had 72 communicants and 15 households: Bodl., Tanner MS. 240, fol. 33.

^{page 143 note 4} CCL, JQ, 1588; PRO, C2/James 1 N6/69.

^{page 144 note 1} KAO, PRC 39/30, fol. 167–^v, 171–^v; CCL, Z. 3.15, fol. 393–^v.

^{page 144 note 2} The Plea, sig. B1^v–2; Abrahams Faith, sig. A3; The Plea, 227–8.

^{page 145 note 1} An Order of Houshold Instruction (1596), sig. A7–^v; The Plea, sig. B3 and 30–31. The Plea went through two editions (virtually identical) in 1602 (Pollard, A. W. and Redgrave, G. R., A Short Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland and Ireland, London 1926, 18541–2)Google Scholar; in 1603 an Ashford school teacher was charged with being ‘a disperser of Mr. Nicholls’ books …’: CCL, x. 4.5, fol. 135^v.

^{page 145 note 2} Bruce, J., ed., Diary of John Manningham, Camden Society, O.S., xcix, 1868, 13, 92Google Scholar; see also Clark, op. cit., ch. 8.

^{page 145 note 3} Historical Manuscripts Commission, Montagu MSS., 34: Curtis, M. H., ‘Hampton Court Conference and its Aftermath’, History, xlvi (1961), 9–16.Google Scholar

^{page 145 note 4} DNB, Covell, William; A Just and Temperate Defence … (1603); A Modest and Reasonable Examination of some things in use in the Church of England … (1604), 3, 5; H. A[insworth]., Counterpoyson. Considerations … Answered (1608), iii, 191–2.

^{page 146 note 1} The argument for Nicholls's involvement rests mainly on his contact with the area and with the Whetenhall family; the style and thematic content of sections of T. Whetenhall, A Discourse of the Abuses … in the Churches of Christ (ed. 1606), esp. 188 ff; and Bancroft's action against the two men together.

^{page 146 note 2} Another edition of the work published in 1617 with only minor changes (Short Title Catalogue, 25333) caused no trouble with the authorities—a sign perhaps of the more liberal regime under archbishop Abbot. Whetenhall, op. cit., iv–v, 35, 61, 88, 188.

^{page 146 note 3} BL, Addit. MS. 34,218, fol. 187^v (Nicholls's old enemy, Covell, took part in the search); CCL, x. 9.11, fol. 31^v.

^{page 147 note 1} BL, Addit. MS. 34,218, fol. 146–8; Stafford County Record Office (hereafter SRO), D.593/S/4/65/5; in 1616 Whetenhall's library included ‘the general and several histories of France, Spain and the Low Countries’: PRO, SP 14/200/1. BL, Addit. MS. 34,218, fol. 148^v–49. See also Clark, op. cit., ch. 10.

^{page 147 note 2} BL, Addit. MS. 34,218, fol. 148–9;; APC, 1613–14, 576; SRO, C.593/S/4/65/1.

^{page 148 note 1} Nicholls was not released from the Marshalsea until February 1615: APC, 1615–16, 52. Significantly, Thomas Whetenhall had close ties with the capital; his will, executed in 1621, directed leading London and Kentish Puritans to establish three radical lectureships in the city: PRO, SP 14/200/1; House of Lords Record Office, Original Bill, 21 James 1, no. 67. PRO, PROB 11/183/62.

^{page 148 note 2} Gardiner, D., ed., The Oxinden and Peyton Letters 1642–1670, London 1937, 45–6Google Scholar; PRO, E 134/1 Charles 1/Trinity 8; KAO: Fa/AC 4, fol. 63: U951, Z17/3; BL, Addit. MS. 28,000, fols. 81, 319; also KAO, U47/3, E2, fol. 43.

^{page 148 note 3} CCL, Z. 4.5, fol. 39^v; x. 6.8, fol. 229; see also Cowper, J. M., ed., Canterbury Marriage Licences: 1661–1676, Canterbury 1896, 334.Google Scholar

^{page 149 note 1} Venn, J. and Venn, J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses: Part I from the Earliest Times to 1731, Cambridge 1922–1927, iii, 255Google Scholar; CCL, Licence Registers (General), 5, fol. 104^v; x. 9.8, fol. 42; An Order of Houshold Instruction, sig. B4–^v, 7^v and C1; CCL, x. 9. 11, fol. 31^v.

^{page 149 note 2} CCL, Z. 3.16, fol. 18; Ferrier, city sergeant since the 1620s, was dismissed in 1638 after his arrest of a Laudian cleric: CCL, F/A 23, fol. 62 ff.; AC 4, fol. 137^v; PRO, REQ, 2/399/48.

^{page 149 note 3} CCL, U37/1, fol. 1. Josias also carried a petition against the bishops to the town of Wye in 1641: KAO, U951, C261/19. Matthews, A. G., Calamy Revised, Oxford 1934, 365Google Scholar; Bodl., Rawlinson MS. D. 1352, fols. 141–53^v; BL, Addit. MS. 44,847, fols. 25 ff. For more on Charles's ministry see Nuttall, G. F., ‘Dissenting Churches in Kent before 1700’, in this Journal, xiv (1963), 181.Google Scholar

^{page 149 note 4} BL, Addit. MS. 44,847, fol. 31; Matthews, op. cit., 365–6; CCL, Z. 3.27, fol. 184; Venn, op. cit., iii, 254–5.

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