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The Troubles of Thomas Pestell: Parish Squabbles and Ecclesiastical Politics in Caroline England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 May 2013

Christopher Haigh
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Extract

The troubles of Thomas Pestell came to a head at Lambeth on 21 November 1633. He was the victim of an improbable alliance between a godly nobleman, a Laudian judge, three alehouse keepers, a few tithe resisters, some Ashby nonconformists, “mad Stacey,” and a determined troublemaker. This ambitious Leicestershire parson, already embittered by failure, was humiliated by the Court of High Commission. Led by Archbishop Laud, the court declared that Pestell “had to the scandal and reproach of his ministerial function many ways demeaned himself”: he was ordered to grovel before his critics and pay his enemies' expenses. It could have been very much worse. The offenses of contempt of ecclesiastical authority, admitting excommunicates to communion, and performing clandestine marriages, “although they were in themselves no way justifiable but worthy of severe punishment,” were set aside for the moment and never resurfaced. An allegation of vexatious litigation had already been dropped, a charge of seditious preaching was “not sufficiently proved,” and “for his quarrelling and fighting, and giving cause to have him bound to the peace before the temporal judges, this the court much misliked though they would not censure him for it.” Formally, Pestell was only punished for jeering at the earl of Huntingdon, mocking Sir John Lambe, and sending two of his parishioners on a wild-goose chase—but his once-promising career was in ruins.

Thomas Pestell was born in 1585, the son of a Leicester tailor. He went to Cambridge as a sizar, took his M.A. in 1609, and was presented to the Leicestershire rectory of Coleorton by Sir Thomas Beaumont in 1611.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , October 2002 , pp. 403 - 428
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 2002

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References

1 Public Record Office (hereafter cited as PRO), SP16/251, fols. 11–13v, 15v, 21 November 1633; Henry E. Huntington Library (hereafter cited as HEHL), San Marino, Calif., HA legal box 5 (8).

2 Lincolnshire Archives (hereafter cited as LAL), Lincoln, PD 1611/35; PD 1622/75; PRO, E334/15, fol. 39v; Nichols, J., The History and Antiquities of the County of Leicester, 8 vols. (1795–1811), 3, pt. 2:927–30Google Scholar; Pestell, Thomas, “To the Spiritual Theife; or My Brother Sermon Snapper: 1624.” (All quotations of Pestell's poems are from the English Poetry Database on CD-ROM [Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1995])Google Scholar.

3 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 51, 55v–6, 72v, 83v, 107, 132v; P[estell], T[homas], God's Visitation, in a Sermon Preached at Leicester (London, 1630), pp. 12, 33Google Scholar.

4 Ibid., sigma A2; Pestell, Thomas, “To My Neighbour R. B. Archd.: of Nott: Now D. of Sarum”; Buchan, Hannah, ed., The Poems of Thomas Pestell (Oxford, 1940), pp. 134–38Google Scholar; HEHL, HA 13329, 18 September 1631; HA legal box 5 (8).

5 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), article 2; Leicestershire Record Office (hereafter LRO), Wigston Magna 1D41/11/64, fols. 107v–339v, passim; 1D41/11/65, fols. 3v–104v; 1D41/4/VI/116; 1D41/4/IX/31, 45, 50, 52; Barratt, D. M., “The Condition of the Parish Clergy between the Reformation and 1660, with Special Reference to the Dioceses of Oxford, Worcester and Gloucester” (D.Phil, thesis, University of Oxford, 1949), pp. 216, 270–72Google Scholar.

6 LRO, 1D41/13/59, fols. 225–26; LAL, Cor/L/2, fol. 92; PRO, E179/134/286, membrane 3; E179/134/296, membrane 4d.

7 LRO, 1D41/4/IX/44,45, 35, 39; 1D41/4/X/89; 1D41/4/XIII/91; 1D41/11/65, fols. 336v, 337v; LAL, Cor/L/2, fol. 92.

8 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Article 6; box 5 (9), fols. 53, 68v, 155v–56; HA 13329, 18 September 1631; Buchan, , Poems, p. 138Google Scholar.

9 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Article 9; box 5 (9), fols. 137v, 149v–50; Buchan, , Poems, p. 141Google Scholar; PRO, SP16/251, fol. 12v.

10 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Article 3; box 5 (9), fols. 149–50, 154–55, 159v–60; PRO, SP16/251, fol. llv; LRO, 1D41/13/61, fol. 91.

11 Haigh, Buchan, Poems, 141Google Scholar; HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Articles 4, 5; box 5 (9), fols. 69v–70v, 104v–5, 146v–48, 153; PRO, SP16/251, fol. 12; Christopher, , “Communion and Community: Exclusion from Communion in Post-Reformation England,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 51 (2000): 722–23Google Scholar.

12 Buchan, , Poems, p. 135Google Scholar; HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 44, 50–50v, 54, 65–66; LRO, 1D41/13/59, fols. 219v, 306; 1D41/4/XIII/95; 1D41/13/61, fols. 91v–92; 1D41/13/64, fol. 126.

13 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fol. 53v; LRO, 1D41/4/XIII/93, 95; 1D41/11/65, fols. 328v, 354v; 1D41/13/64, fol. 100v; PRO, SP16/251, fol. 13.

14 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 11, 15v; box 5 (8), Article 10; Buchan, Cogswell, Poems, pp. 134–35Google Scholar; P[estell], , God's Visitation, p. 28Google Scholar. For the earl's financial problems, see Thomas, , Home Divisions: Aristocracy, the State and Provincial Society (Manchester, 1998), pp. 71–77, 204Google Scholar.

15 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 30, 94v–95; LAL, Cor/L/2, fol. 92; Buchan, , Poems, p. 138Google Scholar; HEHL, HA 13329, 18 September 1631. Huntingdon had indeed sold land to reduce his debts and was touchy about it: see Cogswell, , Home Divisions, pp. 72–75Google Scholar.

16 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Article 11; box 5 (9), fols. 5, 8v–9, 54–55, 81, 85v, 165–66v, 168; Buchan, , Poems, p. 135Google Scholar; PRO, SP16/251. fol. 13.

17 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Articles 7, 12; box 5 (9), Ms. 10–10v, 129v; LRO,1D41/13/64, fols. 113, 132; 1D41/13/50, fols. 93v 141; 1D41/13/59, fol. 85v. Ironically,there were frequent complaints by Packington churchwardens that Huntingdon would notrepair the churchyard fence.

18 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Article 8; PRO, SP16/251, fol. llv; LRO, 1D41/13/60, fols. 211v-12.

19 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fol. 119v; box 5 (8), Additional Article 3; PRO, SP16/251, fols. 11v, 13–13v.

20 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (8), Additional Articles 1–2; Bodleian Library, Oxford, Tanner Ms. 70, fols. 136–37v, 147–47v; PRO, SP 16/533, fol. 116; SP16/537, fol. 48; Hacket, John, Scrinia Reserata: A Memorial Offer'd to the Great Deservings of John Williams, D.D. (London, 1693), pt. 2, pp. 80, 111–13Google Scholar. Bishop Williams's version of the origins of the conflict with Lambe was different (Bodleian Library, Oxford, Tanner Ms. 70, fols. 138–45), but this seems the most likely sequence.

21 PRO, C2/Chas.I/L22/47/1; C2/Chas I/L7/66/3; SP16/201, fol. 16; SP16/202, fols. 72–72v; SP16/533, fols. 114–16, 126; LAL, Cor/L/2, fol. 88; LRO, 1D41/11/65, fols. 14–16, 48–48v; 1D41/4/V/19; HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 36–36v, 41v–42; Levack, B. P., The Civil Lawyers in England, 1603–1641 (Oxford, 1973), p. 246Google Scholar; Journals of the House of Lords, 4:183Google Scholar.

22 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 1–2v, 45v–47, 49v, 133v–34; LRO, 1D41/11/65, fol. 111. Pestell had declared himself against Lambe as early as February 1631, when he switched his tithe cases from Lambe's court to the chancellor's, and then to Walker's; Lambe got a writ from the Court of Arches to stay Pestell's proceedings (LRO, 1D41/11/63, fols. 38v–39; LAL, Cor/L/2, fols. 92, 94).

23 PRO, SP16/251, fol. 12; HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 37–39, 47; LRO, 1D41/13/60, fols. 100v, 108, 150; LAL, Cor/L/2, fol. 88, 22 April 1631.

24 PRO, C2/Chas.I/L22/47/l; C2/Chas.I/L7/66/1–3; SP16/178, fol. 112. There seems to be no evidence of a direct link between Lambe and Johnson, but Lambe's nephew and agent Henry Alleyne (who had made the first accusations against Bishop Williams) liaised with Johnson in managing the case against Pestell (HEHL, HA 109, 15 April 1633).

25 PRO, SP16/251, fols. 12v–13.

26 PRO, SP16/231, fol. 67, 18 January 1633; SP16/155, fol. 13v; C2/Chas.I/A40/35; LRO, 1D41/11/65, fol. 48; HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 4,13v–14v, 21–22, 33–35v, 108v–9v, 118–18v.

27 HEHL, HA 109, 15 April 1633; HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 4v, 15–15v, 43, 52v–53, 158v.

28 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 58–59, 96–96v, 98, 115v–16v, 127–28, 133v; LRO, 1D41/13/59, fol. 219.

29 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 62–63, 96–96v, 98, 102v–3, 126v, 130–30v.

30 Clarke, Samuel, The Lives of Thirty-Two English Divines (London, 1677), pp. 118—19Google Scholar; LRO, 1D41/13/39, fols. 99–102. Ninety-nine noncommunicants were listed in 1615, with another eight names crossed out. It is unlikely that all of the hundred or so were deliberate nonconformists, and some may have missed the communion for other reasons—but in previous years there had been few presentments for not communicating. Pestell compounded as vicar of Ashby on 23 January 1617 (PRO, E334/15, fol. 39v), which probably means he was instituted in December 1616.

31 Victoria County History of Leicestershire, 3:168Google Scholar; LRO, 1D41/13/44, fols. 47–57; 1D41/13/50, fols. 15v–17, 138v–39v, 146–46v; 1D41/13/53, fols. 21v–22v, 141v–42v; 1D41/13/54, fols. 30v–31. Brinsley dedicated his The True Watch and Rule of Life, 7th ed. (1617)Google Scholar, to Huntingdon.

32 LRO, 1D41/13/39, fol. 99; 1D41/13/44, fols. 47–54v; 1D41/13/50, fol. 146v. In 1627 (if not before), Burrowes was Huntingdon's bailiff at Ashby (HEHL, HA misc. box 12 [1], 21 October 1627).

33 LRO, 1D41/13/51, fols. 4v, 40a; 1D41/13/54, fols. 30v–31; 1D41/13/56, fols. 53v–54v.

34 LRO, 1D41/13/50, fols. 138v–39v, 147, 149v; 1D41/13/51, fols. 3v, 4a.

35 LRO, 1D41/13/51, fol. 40a; LAL, PD 1622/75; Clarke, , Lives of Thirty-Two English Divines, pp. 120–32Google Scholar; Thomas Pestell, “Epitaph on Mr. Hildersam 1632.”

36 LRO, 1D41/13/39, fol. 99v; 1D41/13/44, fol. 54; 1D41/13/50, fols. 16–17; 1D41/13/54, fols. 30v–31; 1D41/13/56, fols. 53v–54v; 1D41/13/57, fol. 110; HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 96b–98, 127v.

37 HEHL, HA 13329, 23 September 1631; HA 109, 15 April 1633; HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 4v–5, 32, 125; PRO, SP16/178, fols. 109–13v; Buchan, , Poems, p. 138Google Scholar; LRO, 1D41/13/61, fol. 91v. The earl believed ceremonies were “indifferent things in themselves, yet being commanded it is a sin not to conform to them” (HEHL, HA personal box 12 [8], fol. 2v).

38 Buchan, , Poems, p. 134Google Scholar; Thomas Pestell, “To My Right and True Friend Mr. Ed: Lafeild. Archd. of Essex”; PRO, SP16/231, fol. 67, 18 January 1633; HEHL, HA 109, 15 April 1633. Sibthorpe, Alleyne, and Burden were all involved with Lambe in his campaign against Bishop Williams.

39 PRO, E179/134/306, membranes 5d, 6d.

40 Buchan, , Poems, pp. 129–30Google Scholar; LRO, 1D41/13/57, fol. 248v; 1D41/13/64, fol. 100v; 1D41/18/9, fols. 2v, 5; 1D41/13/65, fol. 61.

41 HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), passim; LRO, 1D41/13/59, fol. 219v; 1D41/4/XIII/95; 1D41/13/51, fols. 3v, 4a; 1D41/13/60, fols. 100v, 211v–12.

42 P[estell], T[homas], Morbus Epidemicus (London, 1615), p. 3Google Scholar, [Q2] The Poore Man's Appeale (London, 1620), p. 3Google Scholar, and God's Visitation, pp. 34–35.

43 LRO, 1D41/13/51, fol. 4v; 1D41/13/59, fol. 225v; 1D41/4/XIII/95; Thomas Pestell, “A Village Villane, Baylife Describd in Riding Positure.”

44 Pestell, Thomas, Sermons and Devotions (London, 1659), pp. 1–2, 31Google Scholar.

45 PRO, LC5/134, p. 411; LC3/1, fol. 4; Pestell, , Sermons and Devotions, pp. 135–36Google Scholar.

46 Smith, Buchan, Poems, xli, xlix–liiGoogle Scholar; Nichols, , History and Antiquities, 3(2):738Google Scholar; HEHL, HA 10174, 10175/27; D. L., , Constitutional Royalism and the Search for Settlement, c. 1640–1649 (Cambridge, 1994), p. 273Google Scholar.

47 For struggles at the center, see Tyacke, Nicholas, Anti-Calvinists: The Rise of English Arminianism, c. 1590–1640 (Oxford, 1987)Google Scholar. For a contested diocese (where Lambe was chancellor), see Fielding, John, “Arminianism in the Localities: Peterborough Diocese, 1603–1642,” in The Early Stuart Church, 1603–1642, ed. Fincham, Kenneth (Basingstoke, 1993), pp. 93–113CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Webster, Tom, Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England: The Caroline Puritan Movement, c. 1620–1643 (Cambridge, 1997), pp. 215–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Parts of the story of the attack on Williams are told in Welch, C. E., “The Downfall of Bishop Williams,” Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society 40 (1964–1965): 42–58Google Scholar; Slatter, M. D., “A Biographical Study of Sir John Lambe, c. 1566–1646” (B.Litt. thesis, Oxford University, 1952)Google Scholar.

48 See Haigh, Christopher, “Anticlericalism and Clericalism, 1580–1640,” in Anticlericalism in Britain, c. 1500–1914, ed. Aston, Nigel and Cragoe, Matthew (Stroud, 2000), pp. 18–41Google Scholar; Foster, Andrew, “The Clerical Estate Revitalised,” Early Stuart Church, ed. Fincham, , pp. 139–60Google Scholar.

49 See Sheils, W. J., “‘The Right of the Church’: The Clergy, Tithe and the Courts at York, 1540–1640,” Studies in Church History 24 (1987): 231–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Barrett, “Condition of the Parish Clergy.”

50 P[estell], T[homas], The Good Conscience, or the Soules Banquet Royal (London, 1615), p. 12Google Scholar; HEHL, HA legal box 5 (9), fols. 150, 125v, 136v; LRO, 1D41/13/61, fol. 91.

51 PRO, SP16/535, fol. 67v; , P[estell], God's Visitation, p. 8Google Scholar, and Sermons and Devotions, p. 276; R.T., , Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649 (Oxford, 1979), pp. 8–9 and passimGoogle Scholar. Pestell's spiritual poetry suggests that he was not a predestinarian. Thus in “Pride Will Fall, but Grace to the Humble,” he wrote: “From this foul falling sickness shall / The fall of one recover all / Mankind, that medicin'd by his Spirit / The best of his graces shall inherit.”

52 Curtis, M. H., “The Alienated Intellectuals of Early Stuart England,” Past and Present, no. 23 (1962): 25–43Google Scholar.

53 For an example of similar churchmanship but (I think) worse poetry, see Maltby, Judith, “From Temple to Synagogue: ‘Old’Conformity in the 1640s–1650s and the Case of Christopher Harvey,” in Conformity and Orthodoxy in the English Church, c. 1560–1660, ed. Lake, Peter and Questier, Michael (Woodbridge, 2000), pp. 88–116Google Scholar.

54 For “Prayer Book Protestants,” see Maltby, Judith, Prayer Book and People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England (Cambridge, 1998)Google Scholar. For “conformist,” see especially Lake, Peter, Anglicans and Puritans? Presbyterian and English Conformist Thought from Whitgift to Hooker (London, 1988), pp. 6–9Google Scholar; and MacCulloch, Diarmaid, The Later Reformation in England, 2d ed. (Basingstoke, 2001), pp. 46–47, 49–50, 72–74, 84–85Google Scholar. For “Calvinist conformists,” see Fincham, Kenneth, “Introduction,” in Early Stuart Church, ed. Fincham, , pp. 8–9Google Scholar; for quite another sort, see Lake, Peter, “Lancelot Andrewes, John Buckeridge, and Avant-Garde Conformity at the Court of James I,” in The Mental World of the Jacobean Court, ed. Peck, L. L. (Cambridge, 1991), pp. 113–33Google Scholar.