John Allenson (born c. 1558) was an English

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 ...

divine. Allenson, a native of Durham, matriculated as a sizar of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, in 1576; but in November of the same year he migrated to St. John's College, where he obtained a scholarship on Mr. Ashton's foundation, and became a pupil of the Puritan Dr. William Whitaker, whose religious principles he adopted. He became B.A. in 1579–80, M.A. in 1583, and B.D. in 1590. In 1583 he was suspended from the curacy of Barnwell near Cambridge for refusing to subscribe to the articles. On 20 March 1583–4 he was elected a fellow of St. John's College on the Lady Margaret's foundation. In 1589 he was suspended from the curacy of

Horningsea Horningsea is a small village north of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire in England. The parish covers an area of . It lies on the east bank of the River Cam, and on the road from Cambridge to Clayhithe. The nearest railway station is Waterbeach, away ...

, Cambridgeshire, but he nevertheless continued to preach. He held in succession various offices of trust in his college, becoming senior dean and sacrist in 1602–3, and senior bursar in 1603–4.

Works

Allenson edited the following works of his old tutor Dr. Whitaker: ''Prælectiones'' (1599), ''Prælectiones, in quibus tractatur controversia de conciliis contra pontificios, imprimis Rob. Bellarminum'' (1600), and ''De Peccato Originali contra Stapletonum'' (1600). It appears that Allenson took notes of Whitaker's lectures and prepared them for the press. In 1624 John Ward edited at Frankfort Whitaker's ''Prælectiones de Sacramentis in Genere et in Specie de SS. Baptismo et Eucharistia'', and in the dedication to Dr.

Tobie Mathew Sir Tobie Matthew (also sometimes spelt Mathew; 3 October 157713 October 1655), born in Salisbury, was an English member of parliament and courtier who converted to Roman Catholicism and became a priest. He was sent to Spain to promote the pr ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

, informed him that Dr. Whitaker had not himself published these lectures: ''quæ tamen de Sacramentis adversus Bellarminum in Scholis Academiæ publicis prælegit, vir diligentissimus D. Allensonius, collegii D. Joannis Evangelistæ socius, fideli calamo ex ore dictantis excepit et post authoris mortem, cum ipsius D. Whitakeri concisis annotiunculis in memoriæ subsidium scriptis, accurate contulit præloque destinabat. Sed ex rerum humanarum vicissitudine, ipse etiam, antequam prælo mandarentur, fatis concessit, exemplar prælo destinatum post ejus obitum ad manus meas pervenit.'' Thomas Baker, in his ''History of St. John's College'',’ asserts that the life of Whitaker was written by Allenson; but this is certainly a mistake, as the author of the biography was

Abdias Assheton Abdias Assheton (or Ashton, first name also given as Abdy or Abdie) (1563 – 1633) was an English clergyman. He is noted for his part in the Essex Rebellion; at that time chaplain to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, he induced the imprisoned Es ...

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Allenson, John English religious writers 16th-century Puritans 17th-century English male writers 17th-century English writers People from Durham, England 1550s births 17th-century deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge English male non-fiction writers 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers