John Philpot

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

John Philpot (1516–16 January 1557) was an Archdeacon of Winchester and an English Protestant martyr whose story is recorded in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

Early life and family[edit]

John Philpot was the third son of Sir Peter Philpot and Agnes Troyes.[1] He was born at Compton,[2][failed verification] Hampshire, in 1515. He had 6 brothers, William, Thomas, Edward, Henry and Anthony, 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.

Education[edit]

He was educated at Winchester, 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[3] He had graduated B.C.L (Bachelor of Civil Law).[4]

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[5] was widely circulated. it is probable that John Philpot became a protégé of Thomas Cromwell from around 1536[6].

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.

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, later one of his interrogaters at his trial [7] 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 (from 1536 to 1541) and 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]

Returning to Winchester, he preached his strongly held Protestant views including lectures on the Epistles of Saint Paul to the Romans[8] wherever he could, and became a serious source of irritation to bishop Stephen Gardiner 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."[9].

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[10]. He later had a serious disagreement with his bishop, John Ponet, whom the registrar Cook, ' a man who hated pure religion' had stirred up against him. Cook even set on the archdeacon with his servants as if to murder him. When Mary came to the throne Philpot soon attracted attention. He was one who in the convocation of 1553 defended the views of the catechism, especially with reference to transubstantiation.

Imprisonment, 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.

According to Foxe's Book of Martyrs, he died on 16 January 1557.

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 & Martyr - 1515-1555". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archeological Society. 76: 114.[unreliable source?]
  2. ^ "Winchester College Register of Scholars". dx.doi.org. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714, Phanne-Popejoy
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Payne, Andrew (2021). "John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester and Martyr - 1515-1555". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club & Archeological Society 2021. 76: 102.
  7. ^ Eden, R.(ed.) (1842). The Examinations and Writings of John Philpot. Cambridge University Press. p. 112. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Muller, J.A. (1933). The Letters of Stephen Gardiner. Cambridge University Press. pp. 433–435.
  10. ^ 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)

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: William Arthur Jobson Archbold (1885–1900). "Philpot, John". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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