Edward Layfield (8 January 1605 – 7 August 1680) was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

in the 17th century. Layfield was born on 8 January 1604/5, the son of

John Layfield John Charles Layfield (born November 29, 1966), better known by the ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield (abbreviated to JBL), is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and Gridiron football, football player. He is curre ...

, Rector of St Clement Danes in London and a translator of the

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

, and his first wife Bridget (), half-sister of

William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury. He entered Merchant Taylors' School, London in 1617, and matriculated at St John's College, Oxford (of which Laud was then President) in 1620, graduating

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1624 ( incorporated at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

in 1625),

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

1628 (incorporated at Cambridge in 1633). He was awarded a Lambeth B.D. in 1635, and later a D.D. In the church, Layfield's livings included: * Rector of

Ibstock Ibstock is a former coal mining town and civil parish about south of Coalville in North West Leicestershire, England. The population of the civil parish was 5,760 at the 2001 census increasing to 6,201 at the 2011 census. The town is on the ...

, Leicestershire, 1632–35 * Prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral, London, 1633–80 * Archdeacon of Essex, 1634–80 * Vicar of

All Hallows-by-the-Tower All Hallows-by-the-Tower, at one time dedicated jointly to All Hallows (All Saints) and the Virgin Mary and sometimes known as All Hallows Barking, is an ancient Anglican church on Byward Street in the City of London, overlooking the Tower of ...

, London, 1635–80 * Rector of

East Horsley East Horsley is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, 21 miles southwest of London, on the A246 between Leatherhead and Guildford. Horsley and Effingham Junction railway stations are on the New Guildford line to London Waterloo. ...

, Surrey, 1637 * Rector of

Wrotham Wrotham ( ) is a village on the Pilgrims' Way in Kent, England, at the foot of the North Downs. It is north of Borough Green and approximately east of Sevenoaks. It is between the M20 and M26 motorways. History The name first occurs as ''U ...

, Kent, 1638 * Rector of

Chiddingfold Chiddingfold is a village and civil parish in the Weald in the Waverley district of Surrey, England. It lies on the A283 road between Milford and Petworth. The parish includes the hamlets of Ansteadbrook, High Street Green and Combe Common ...

, Surrey, 1640–45 * Rector of

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People * Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom *Barnes, London, England **Barnes railway station ** Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes Railway Bri ...

, Surrey, 1663–80 Layfield's

Laudian Laudianism was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England, promulgated by Archbishop William Laud and his supporters. It rejected the predestination upheld by the previously dominant Calvinism in favour of free will, ...

high-church practice brought him into conflict with the Puritans among his congregation at All Hallows. They complained to the Bishop of London and to Parliament that Layfield had set the communion table against the east wall of the church, that he had installed statues of saints to which he bowed, and 40

IHS IHS may refer to: Religious * Christogram IHS or ΙΗΣ, a monogram symbolizing Jesus Christ * ''In hoc signo'', used by Roman emperor Constantine the Great Organizations * Indian Health Service, an operating division of the US Department of Hea ...

inscriptions, and refused the sacrament to people who tried to remove them. In February 1643 Layfield was deprived of his church offices by Parliament. He refused to obey the order of deprivation. While celebrating a service, he was dragged from the church, placed on a horse with a prayer book tied round his neck, and made to ride through a jeering crowd, then imprisoned. At various times he was held in different prisons, and even on board a ship on the Thames. He was restored to his positions in the church in 1662. Layfield's vicarage next to All Hallows-by-the-Tower was destroyed in the Great Fire of London (the church itself survived except the porch); Layfield rebuilt it after the fire. He died on 7 August 1680, and was buried on 10 August at All Hallows-by-the-Tower.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Layng, Henry 17th-century English Anglican priests People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood Archdeacons of Essex Alumni of St John's College, Oxford 1605 births 1680 deaths