Arthur Hildersham (1563–1632) was an English clergyman, a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

and nonconforming preacher.

Life

Arthur Hildersham was born at Stetchworth, and brought up as a Roman Catholic. He was educated in

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

and at

Christ's College, Cambridge Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...

. Through the patronage of

Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, KG, KB (c. 153514 December 1595) was an English Puritan nobleman. Educated alongside the future Edward VI, he was briefly imprisoned by Mary I, and later considered by some as a potential successor to E ...

, he became vicar of St Helen's Church, Ashby-de-la-Zouch. According to

Benjamin Brook Benjamin Brook (1776–1848) was an English nonconformist minister and religious historian. Life He was born at Netherthong, near Huddersfield. When young he was admitted to membership in the independent church at Holmfield, under the Rev. Robert ...

, the Leicestershire connection was through the good offices of John Ireton, who became vicar of

Kegworth Kegworth () is a large village and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, in the East Midlands region, England. It forms part of the border with Nottinghamshire and is situated 6 miles north of Loughborough, ...

, and who offered help to Hildersham when his family objected to his conversion to Protestantism. He was literary executor, with

John Dod John Dod (c. 1549 – 1645), known as "Decalogue Dod", was a non-conforming English clergyman, taking his nickname for his emphasis on the Ten Commandments. He is known for his widely circulated writings. Although he lost one means of livelihood ...

, to Thomas Cartwright, who died in 1603. He was one of the promoters of the

Millenary Petition The Millenary Petition was a list of requests given to James I by Puritans in 1603 when he was travelling to London in order to claim the English throne. It is claimed, but not proven, that this petition had 1,000 signatures of Puritan ministers ...

, with Stephen Egerton. It was presented to

James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) *James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) *James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu *James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...

in 1603; but he was excluded from the subsequent Hampton Court Conference, where four moderate voices represented the Puritan trend. He was deprived of his living in 1605, and then relied on lecturing positions.

William Lilly William Lilly (9 June 1681) was a seventeenth century English astrologer. He is described as having been a genius at something "that modern mainstream opinion has since decided cannot be done at all" having developed his stature as the most imp ...

(born 1602) was educated in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, and described the "silenced" Hildersham in his ''History of His Life and Times''. Lilly's teacher was John Brinsley the elder, one of Hildersham's circle. One place he was a lecturer was at

Burton-on-Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

. With Peter Eccleshall he had been conducting a 'common exercise' in Burton by 1596. Related to this religious activity was the case of Thomas Darling, who became celebrated as a result of efforts at

exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...

. Hildersham supported the exorcist

John Darrell John Darrell (born 1562 in or near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England, died after 1602) was an Anglican clergyman noted for his Puritan views and his practice as an exorcist, which led to imprisonment. Exorcist Darrell was a sizar of Queens' Co ...

. Also he had connections with the

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

case of

Edward Wightman Edward Wightman (1566 – 11 April 1612) was an English Radical Reformation, radical Anabaptist Minister (Christianity), minister, executed at Lichfield on charges of heresy. He was the last person to be Execution by burning, burned at the stake ...

, burned in 1612. Around 1615 he encountered

Francis Higginson Francis Higginson (1588–1630) was an early Puritan minister in Colonial New England, and the first minister of Salem, Massachusetts. Biography England The son of a minister, Francis Higginson received his B.A. degree from Jesus College, Ca ...

, who in 1629 settled in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...

. Under Hildersham's influence he became a nonconformist, setting off the train of events leading to Higginson's emigration.

Family

He had royal blood, being a great-grandson of

Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 – 27 May 1541), also called Margaret Pole, as a result of her marriage to Sir Richard Pole, was the only surviving daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, a brother of ...

, the last of the

Plantagenet dynasty The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in batt ...

. This accounts for the story that Elizabeth I called him "cousin Hildersham". His parents were Ann Pole (daughter of

Geoffrey Pole Sir Geoffrey Pole of Lordington, Sussex (c. 1501 or 1502 – November 1558) was an English knight who supported the Catholic Church in England and Wales when Henry VIII of England was establishing the alternative Church of England with him ...

), and Thomas Hildersham and was reported to have been "cast off" by his parents because of his Puritan beliefs. He was married to Anne Barfoot, daughter of John Barfoot of Lamborne, on 5 January 1590. They had four children: including Samuel, Timothy, Sarah, and an unnamed son. Anne died in 1639. Their son Samuel Hildersham (1594?–1674), a

Westminster Divine The members of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, sometimes known collectively as the Westminster Divines, are those clergymen who participated in the Assembly that drafted the Westminster Confession of Faith. The Long Parliament's initial ord ...

and minister who was ejected in 1662, married Mary Goodyear, and died in 1674.

Works

*''Lectures upon the Fourth of John'' (1629) * Verklaring van psalm 51.

External Resources

*Arthur Hildersham manuscripts
Eng Ms 524
at the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriquet ...

, Manchester.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hildersham, Arthur 1563 births 1632 deaths English Jacobean nonconforming clergy People from Ashby-de-la-Zouch 16th-century English Puritan ministers