![Remember John Fryth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Remember_John_Fryth.jpg)
John Frith (1503 – 4 July 1533) was an English
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
priest, writer, and
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
.
Frith was an important contributor to the
Christian debate on persecution and toleration
The history of Christian thought has included concepts of both inclusivity and exclusivity from its beginnings, that have been understood and applied differently in different ages, and have led to practices of both persecution and toleration. ...
in favour of the principle of
religious toleration
Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...
. He was 'perhaps the first to echo in England' of that 'more liberal tradition' of
Zwingli,
Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lu ...
and
Bucer
Martin Bucer ( early German: ''Martin Butzer''; 11 November 1491 – 28 February 1551) was a German Protestant reformer based in Strasbourg who influenced Lutheran, Calvinist, and Anglican doctrines and practices. Bucer was originally a me ...
.
[;] As his ministry progressed, Frith took greater risks with his stance against the Roman Catholic teachings of
Purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
and
Transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
. He was eventually brought before
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
and the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
for his teachings and condemned to be burned at the stake for
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 ...
.
In his revision of Foxe's ''
Book of Martyrs'', author Harold Chadwick writes the following about John Frith: "Master Frith was a young man noted for his godliness, intelligence, and knowledge. In the secular world, he could have risen to any height he wished, but he chose, instead, to serve the Church and work for the benefit of others and not himself."
During his studies, he became acquainted with
William Tyndale who deeply influenced Frith's beliefs. Like Tyndale and
Luther
Luther may refer to:
People
* Martin Luther (1483–1546), German monk credited with initiating the Protestant Reformation
* Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), American minister and leader in the American civil rights movement
* Luther (give ...
, Frith played an influential role in the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
.
Early life and education
John Frith (John Fryth) was born in 1503 in
Westerham
Westerham is a town and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 3.4 miles east of Oxted and 6 miles west of Sevenoaks, adjacent to the Kent border with both Greater London and Surrey.
It is recorded as early as t ...
, Kent, England to Richard Frith the innkeeper of White Horse Inn (now known as Church Gate House.)
The house still stands at the gates of the
Westerham Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin. His name is recorded in the baptism registry of St Mary's Church in 1503.
[Westerham Parish Church of St Mary's Heritage Trust](_blank)
(accessed 27 May 2015) Though much of the church has been renovated several times over the centuries, the original 14th-century
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mod ...
in which Frith was baptised is still used today.
The John Fryth Room was added in the 1960s as a meeting room and there is a stone commemorative plaque in the church surrounds.
[Our History](_blank)
- Westerham Parish Church of St Mary's (accessed 27 May 2015)[Community Function Halls](_blank)
- Visit Westerham (accessed 27 May 2015) The extended church choir are known as The John Fryth Singers.
[Community Music Activities](_blank)
- Visit Westerham (accessed 27 May 2015)
He went to
Sevenoaks Grammar School
Sevenoaks School is a highly selective coeducational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent school in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. It is the second oldest non-denominational school in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1432, only behind O ...
. He was further educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
before being admitted as a scholar to
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...
, although he received his Bachelor of Arts degree as a member of
King's.
While Frith was at Cambridge, his tutor was
Stephen Gardiner, who would later take part in condemning him to death. He became proficient in Latin, Greek, and Mathematics.
[John Foxe, Book of Martyrs(1563-1583)](_blank)
John Foxe: The Unabridged Acts and Monuments Online.(accessed 27 May 2015)
He also met
Thomas Bilney a graduate student of Trinity Hall, and began to have meetings concerning the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
. It may have been at one of these meetings that Frith met with
William Tyndale.
[John Frith: Forging the English Reformation](_blank)
by Herbert Samworth (accessed 29 December 2006)
After graduating in 1525, Frith became a junior
canon at
Thomas Wolsey's
Cardinal College, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is unique ...
. While in Oxford, Frith was imprisoned, along with nine others, in a cellar where fish was stored,
due to his possession of what the University's officers considered "heretical" books. Frith was released and fled England, joining Tyndale who was then residing in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, .
Residence in continental Europe
In 1528 he went to Marburg, where he translated ''Places'' by
Patrick Hamilton. One year later, Frith translated ''A Pistle to the Christian Reader: The Revelation of the Anti-Christ; An Antithesis between Christ and the Pope.'' He also published ''A Disputacion of Purgatorye, divided into thre bokes'' in response to
Thomas More,
John Rastell, and Bishop
John Fisher. Rastell was persuaded by this publication and adhered to the Protestant Reformation until his death. Frith explains in his ''A Disputation of Purgatory'', that there are two purgatories, "God hath left us two purgatories; one to purge the heart and cleanse it from the filth which we have partly received of Adam … and partly added thereto by consenting unto our natural infirmity. This purgatory is the word of God, as Christ saith."
The second purgatory is Christ's cross. "I mean not his material cross that he himself died on, but a spiritual cross, which is adversity, tribulation, worldly depression,
tc"
During this year of 1528 Frith also got married and had children.
People he encountered during his life
When John Frith first began his studies at Cambridge University; he was tutored by
Stephen Gardiner, who later became the Bishop of Winchester. Gardiner instilled a "love of learning" in the young Frith, and developed a so-called great loyalty and admiration for the youth.
In later years, this loyalty toward Frith ended when Gardiner and Sir Thomas More began to criticize the church, but stopped when they realized that they were only adding fuel to the fire of the heretics.
Frith was called out of Cambridge to attend Oxford University by
Thomas Wolsey, who personally gathered young men who excelled in learning and knowledge. Oxford was the first place in which Frith was apprehended and committed to prison under suspicion of being in favor of Luther's doctrine.
He was released a short time later.
After this, Frith went to London where he made acquaintance with William Tyndale. Tyndale had a huge influence on Frith's religious views, and the two encountered much danger for their stance on purgatory.
The second time that Frith was imprisoned was when he went to see the Prior of Reading, a friend to whom he retreated when he ran out of money to live on.
Upon arriving in Reading, Frith was taken for a vagabond and a rogue.
Frith was arrested and put in the stocks.
Frith was released with the help and persuasion of
Leonard Coxe
Leonard Cox (or Coxe) (c. 1495 – c. 1549) was an English humanist, author of the first book in English on rhetoric. He was a scholar of international reputation who found patronage in Poland, and was friend of Erasmus and Melanchthon. He was ...
, who was schoolmaster in Reading, with whom he met and discussed topics such as education, Universities, languages, etc. Coxe went to the magistrates and got him freed because of his pity and admiration for Frith's intelligence and eloquence.
Sir
Thomas More was the Chancellor of England at the time that Coxe had pushed for and gained Frith's freedom from imprisonment. He issued a warrant for Frith's arrest on a charge of heresy. Frith was sent to the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
when he was caught trying to escape to Holland.
While imprisoned in the Tower, Frith composed a book on his views of purgatory and presented it to a tailor named William Holt, a man who made his acquaintance there. Holt made out to be a friend and supporter of Frith's ideas, only to take the composition given him by Frith himself and bring it to the hands of More. Upon reading Frith's book, More wrote his own composition in response. Later More would condemn Frith to death, eventually burning him at the stake.
Ironically, More was later imprisoned in that same Tower of London for refusing to acknowledge
King Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
as supreme head of the Church of England. He was found guilty of treason and beheaded.
Return to England and arrest
In 1532, he returned to England, and warrants for his arrest were issued by Thomas More (who at the time was Lord Chancellor). In October he was arrested by the local authorities before he could arrange passage to Antwerp, wearing an elaborate disguise.
While imprisoned for approximately eight months in the
Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
, Frith penned his views on Communion, fully knowing that it would be used "to purchase me most cruel death."
John Foxe writes of John Frith and his works and writings and of the great chains that were piled onto his body. Frith, in his last days in London's Tower, writes a final book, the Bulwark. It has been suggested that Rastell is persuaded to convert to Frith's views on Christianity because of the meetings they had together, as well as this final book. Rastell was converted through Frith's final arguments in the Bulwark. The Bulwark is an impressive book in its theological content and in its style, at times relaxed, and at other times serious.
Frith claims that men sin if the motives behind their good works were to gain favour with God. The emphasis, then, is placed on justification by faith.
Eventually transferred from the Tower to
Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
, Frith refused to stop his controversial writing. When William Tyndale learned of Frith's plight, he tried to bolster the prisoner's spirits with a pair of letters that still survive. "If your pain", Tyndale counseled, "proves to be above your strength, pray to your Father in that name, and he will ease it."
Polemical use of rhetoric and logic
John Frith's writings are in answer to, or debate with, the beliefs of men such as Bishop John Fisher, Sir Thomas More, and John Rastell.
In 1531 Frith published three attacks on the doctrines of purgatory and transubstantiation, which left him, according to his biographers, a wanted man. The first of these, ''A Disputacion of Purgatorye'', answered the apologies for purgatory contained in Bishop John Fisher's ''Assertonis Lutheranae Confuatio'' (1525), in Sir Thomas More's ''The Supplicacion of Soules'' (1529), and in ''A New Boke of Purgatory'' (1530) by More's brother-in-law, John Rastell.
John Frith was unique among the reformers of the early Tudor period in his predilection for polemics and the very weapons of controversy, many of which he fashioned from the figures of rhetoric.
To emphasize his opponents' venality and thus question the motives for their doctrinal position, he used sarcasm, irony, significatio, and praemunitio.
To prejudice his readers against opponents' arguments he used praemunitio. A "coulour of Rhetorike"—because Frith uses so many colours to debate against his opponents—which plays an important part in Frith's controversial technique is praemunitio, the orator's preparation of the audience for some succeeding portion of his speech. Frith uses this device to prejudice his readers either against his opponent's entire work prior to dealing with it, or to prejudice them against a particular passage in that work he is about to cite. To impugn his opponents' competence, he answered them with the texts they themselves had cited.
0
Trial and death
Frith was tried before many examiners and bishops, including
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
, the recently appointed
archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
. He produced his own writings as evidence for his views that were deemed as
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 ...
. He was sentenced to death by fire and offered a pardon if he answered positively to two questions: Do you believe in
purgatory
Purgatory (, borrowed into English via Anglo-Norman and Old French) is, according to the belief of some Christian denominations (mostly Catholic), an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. The process of purgatory ...
, and do you believe in
transubstantiation
Transubstantiation (Latin: ''transubstantiatio''; Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of th ...
? He replied that neither purgatory nor transubstantiation could be proven by
Holy Scriptures, and thus was condemned as a heretic and was transferred to the secular arm for his execution on 23 June 1533. He was
burned at the stake on 4 July 1533 at
Smithfield, London
Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England.
Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Barth ...
, for, he was told, his soul's salvation. (
King Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...
was excommunicated one week later). Andrew Hewet, an apprentice tailor, was burned with him.
Foxe's Book of Martyrs, 1583 edition, page 1060
/ref>
Aftermath
Thomas Cranmer would himself later subscribe to Frith's views on purgatory, and published the 42 articles which explicitly denied purgatory.
Frith's works were posthumously published in 1573 by John Foxe
John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587), an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of '' Actes and Monuments'' (otherwise ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''), telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the su ...
.
Timeline
*1503 Born in Westerham, Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England
*1510 Frith and family moved to Sevenoaks
*1520–22 Recorded to have attended Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
*1522 Enrolled at Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...
*1523 Transferred over to King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
*1525–28 Transferred to Thomas Wolsey's Cardinal College, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is unique ...
to become a junior canon
*1528 Imprisoned at Cardinal College in the institution's fish cellar by Cardinal Wolsey
*1528 Roughly 6 months later, Cardinal Wolsey released surviving fish cellar prisoners on the paroling condition of residing within a 10-mile radius around Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
*1528 Fled England for Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
*1528 Travelled to Marburg
Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximate ...
, Germany
*1532 Returned to England and was imprisoned in the Tower of London
The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...
for approximately 8 months
*23 June 1533 Sentenced to death as a heretic and was transferred to Newgate Prison
Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...
*4 July 1533 Publicly burned at the stake in Smithfield, London
Bibliography
*John Frith: Forging the English Reformation by Herbert Samworth
*John Frith: His Final Year
*John Frith and the Claims of Truth
References
Sources
*
*
*
*Brian Raynor, James Jones James Jones may refer to:
Sports Association football
*James Jones (footballer, born 1873) (1873–1955), British Olympic footballer
* James Jones (footballer, born 1996), Scottish footballer for Wrexham
*James Jones (footballer, born 1997), Wel ...
(2000). ''John Frith: Scholar and Martyr''. Read All Over. .
*Tyndale, William, John Frith, and Thomas Russell
The Works of the English Reformers
Vol. 3. London: Printed for Ebenezer Palmer, Printed by Samuel Bentley, 1831. 1–473. At Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical c ...
.
*Hillerbrand, Hans J. Christendom Divided: The Protestant Reformation. London: Hutchinson & Co. LTD, 1971.
*Routh, C.R.N. Who's Who in History, Vol. 2: England. London: Billing & Sons, LTD, 1966.
*
*10 Mar 2008
*10 Mar 2008
*Hagstotz, Gideon and Hilda. "Heroes of the Reformation." Hartland Publications. Virginia. 1951.
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Frith, John
1503 births
1533 deaths
People from Westerham
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
English evangelicals
English Protestant ministers and clergy
16th-century English clergy
People educated at Eton College
People educated at Sevenoaks School
People executed for heresy
Executed British people
People executed under Henry VIII
Executed people from Kent
16th-century English writers
16th-century male writers
16th-century Protestant martyrs
People executed by the Kingdom of England by burning
Protestant martyrs of England
Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge