John Knewstub (or Knewstubs) (1544–1624) was an English clergyman and one of the participants in the

Hampton Court Conference The Hampton Court Conference was a meeting in January 1604, convened at Hampton Court Palace, for discussion between King James I of England and representatives of the Church of England, including leading English Puritans. The conference resulte ...

of 1604 representing the

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 ...

side.

Patrick Collinson Patrick "Pat" Collinson, (10 August 1929 – 28 September 2011) was an English historian, known as a writer on the Elizabethan era, particularly Elizabethan Puritanism. He was emeritus Regius Professor of Modern History, University of Cambridge, ...

calls him

presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

by conviction, but moderate in his views.

Life

He was born at

Kirkby Stephen Kirkby Stephen () is a market town and civil parish in Cumbria, North West England. Historically part of Westmorland, it lies on the A685, surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about from the nearest larger towns: Kendal and Penrith. ...

in Westmoreland in 1544 and entered

St. John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

, where he graduated B.A. 1564, and, on 21 March 1567, was elected a Fellow. In 1568, he proceeded M.A. and, in 1576, took his degree as B.D. He became noted as a controversialist, particularly as a writer against the teaching of Henry Nicholis and the Family of Love. In 1576, he preached against their doctrines at

Paul's Cross St Paul's Cross (alternative spellings – "Powles Crosse") was a preaching cross and open-air pulpit in the grounds of Old St Paul's Cathedral, City of London. It was the most important public pulpit in Tudor and early Stuart England, and many ...

. On 13 August 1579, he was presented by Sir William Spring to the rectory of

Cockfield, Suffolk Cockfield is a village and civil parish located approximately from Lavenham in Suffolk, England. The village consists of a central point and several outlying hamlets: Buttons Green, Colchester Green, Cross Green, Great Green, Oldhall Green ...

, in succession to Richard Longworth, and continued to hold the living for the rest of his life. Under the patronage of the

Spring family The Spring family is a Suffolk gentry family that has been involved in the politics and economy of East Anglia since the 15th century, as well as holding large estates in Ireland from the 16th century.Joseph Jackson Howard, ‘Spring’, ‘’Th ...

, Cockfield became a centre of Puritan doctrine. In May 1582, an assembly of about 60 clergymen from Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire met in Cockfield Church to confer about the Prayer Book, clerical dress, and customs. St. John's College also was, at that time, noted for its leanings to Puritanism; Knewstub was a follower of Thomas Cartwright and a friend of Adam Winthrop,

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

's father. Knewstub was a strong candidate in 1595 to succeed William Whitaker as Master of St John's, though Richard Clayton was elected. At the conference in Hampton Court in 1604, he appeared as one of the four ministers deputed to oppose conformity. He took especial exception to the use of the sign of the cross in baptism and also to the

surplice A surplice (; Late Latin ''superpelliceum'', from ''super'', "over" and ''pellicia'', "fur garment") is a liturgical vestment of Western Christianity. The surplice is in the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton fabric, reaching to the kne ...

. Knewstub died at Cockfield, where he was buried 31 May 1624. His epitaph, which has disappeared from his place of interment, has been preserved by

Francis Peck Francis Peck (1692–1743) was an English priest of the Church of England and antiquary, best known for his ''Desiderata Curiosa'' (1732–1735). Life He was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, the son of Robert, merchant, and baptised 4 Ma ...

.''Desiderata Curiosa'', p. 216. He does not appear to have been married.

Works

The ''Evangelium Regni'' of Henry Nicholis, composed originally in German, had been translated into Latin and, in 1579, Knewstub translated a large portion of the Latin version into English, with comments in which he unsparingly denounced the tenets advanced. The work was dedicated to

Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, KG (c. 1530 – 21 February 1590) was an English nobleman and general, and an elder brother of Queen Elizabeth I's favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Their father was John Dudley, Duke ...

, and the contents of the volume show that Knewstub was, by this time, well known at court. His ''Lectures … upon the twentieth Chapter of Exodus'' of 1577 had been dedicated to Dudley’s wife Anne.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Knewstub, John 1544 births 1624 deaths 16th-century English Puritan ministers Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge