Cicely Johnson (after 1636/7) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

woman living in Colchester. Her account of her conversion while under the influence of

John Bull John Bull is a national personification of the United Kingdom in general and England in particular, especially in political cartoons and similar graphic works. He is usually depicted as a stout, middle-aged, country-dwelling, jolly and matter- ...

and Richard Farnham was discovered in

John Rylands University Library The University of Manchester Library is the library system and information service of the University of Manchester. The main library is on the Oxford Road campus of the university, with its entrance on Burlington Street. There are also ten other ...

in Manchester hundreds of years after she wrote it, in about 1636/7.

Life

Johnson was said to have had a fair education as she could read, but it isn't known where or when she was born or her name at birth. By 16/17/8 she had arrived in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

with her husband Thomas. Her husband's job is not clear but he was skilled enough to have apprentices. Cicely and Thomas had three of their children baptised in the now demolished St Nicholas's church in Colchester in 1620, but by 1636 they had their daughter Sarah baptised at

St James the Great, Colchester The Church of St James the Great is a Church of England parish church in Colchester, Essex. The church is a grade II* listed building. History The church was originally built from the 13th to 15th centuries. It was restored from 1870 to 1871 by ...

. Johnson was a keen follower of preachers including Francis Liddell who was in Colchester from 1619 to 1628, and later, Richard Maden. Maden recommended John Knowles as his replacement. Knowles was a preacher from 1635 until 1637 when he was removed due to his nonconformity. Knowles was a popular Cambridge

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 ...

. Johnson says that Knowles encouraged her to record the details of her religious conversion. Johnson was a follower of Richard Farnham and

who were later arrested for their heresy. Johnson and her husband were questioned by the authorities concerning their communication with the self-proclaimed prophet John Bull on 19 June 1636. In 1636 or 1637, she wrote an account of her conversion; this untitled work was later derogatively called "''Fanatical Reveries''". This account was discovered with a similar account by

Rose Thurgood Rose Thurgood (born ) was an English religious writer, known as the author of one of the earliest English conversion narratives, "A Lecture of Repentance" (1637/8). "A Lecture of Repentance" follows Thurgood's fall from a member of the king's ...

in the

in the 21st century. No further details of her life are known. Johnson's writing was transcribed at the time by "E.A" (maybe Elizabeth Addington who was another follower) along with several other related texts and it survived in the papers of the Gurney family. It was purchased in 1936 and only later gained scholarly attention when it was found in the "''Gurney Miscellenea''" at John Rylands University Library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Cicely People from Colchester 17th-century English women writers 17th-century deaths English religious writers 17th-century English writers