John Aylmer (English constitutionalist)
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John Aylmer (Ælmer or Elmer; 1521 – 3 June 1594) was an English bishop, constitutionalist and a Greek scholar.


Early life and career

He was born at Aylmer Hall,
Tilney St. Lawrence Tilney St Lawrence is a village and a civil parish in the English county of NorfolkOrdnance Survey (2006). ''OS Explorer Map 228 – March & Ely''. The village is west of Norwich, south-south-west of King's Lynn and north of London. The nea ...
, Norfolk. While still a boy, his precocity was noticed by
Henry Grey, 3rd Marquess of Dorset Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 3rd Marquess of Dorset (17 January 151723 February 1554), was an English courtier and nobleman of the Tudor period. He was the father of Lady Jane Grey, known as "the Nine Days' Queen". Origins He was born on ...
, later 1st Duke of Suffolk, who sent him to Cambridge, where he seems to have become a fellow of
Queens' College 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 ...
. About 1541 he was made chaplain to the duke, and tutor of Greek to his daughter,
Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey ( 1537 – 12 February 1554), later known as Lady Jane Dudley (after her marriage) and as the "Nine Days' Queen", was an English noblewoman who claimed the throne of England and Ireland from 10 July until 19 July 1553. Jane was ...
. His first preferment was to the
archdeaconry of Stow The Archdeacon of Stow and Lindsey is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln. History The Archdeaconry of Stow is an ancient division of Lincoln diocese; the first archdeacons are recorded from around 1092 (t ...
, in the
diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leices ...
, but his opposition in
Convocation A convocation (from the Latin ''wikt:convocare, convocare'' meaning "to call/come together", a translation of the Ancient Greek, Greek wikt:ἐκκλησία, ἐκκλησία ''ekklēsia'') is a group of people formally assembled for a speci ...
to the doctrine of transubstantiation led to his deprivation and to his flight into
Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
. While there he wrote a reply to
John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...
's famous ''Blast against the Monstrous Regiment of Women'', under the title of ''An Harborowe for Faithfull and Trewe Subjects, etc.'', and assisted John Foxe in translating the ''Acts of the Martyrs'' into Latin. On the accession of Elizabeth he returned to England. "God is English", Aylmer proclaimed in 1558, attempting to fill his parishioners with piety and patriotism. In 1559 he resumed the Stow archdeaconry, and in 1562 he obtained that of Lincoln. He was a member of the
convocation of 1563 The Convocation of 1563 was a significant gathering of English and Welsh clerics that consolidated the Elizabethan religious settlement, and brought the ''Thirty-Nine Articles'' close to their final form (which dates from 1571). It was, more accu ...
, which reformed and settled the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England. In 1577 he was consecrated Bishop of London, and while in that position made himself notorious by his harsh treatment of all who differed from him on ecclesiastical questions, whether Puritan or Roman Catholic. Various efforts were made to remove him to another see. He is frequently assailed in the famous '' Marprelate Tracts'', and is characterised as "Morrell," the bad shepherd, in
Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
's '' Shepheard's Calendar (July)''. His reputation as a scholar hardly balances his inadequacy as a bishop in the transitional time in which he lived. His ''Life'' was written by John Strype (1701). He died in 1594 and was buried in
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
. He had several children; his eldest son Samuel was the High Sheriff of Suffolk for 1626.


Works

"Aylmer, like John Ponet and Stephen Gardiner before him, is an important figure in the story of the reception of classical mixed government in Tudor England."''Dangerous Positions'', Mendle. pg 50. John Aylmer wrote his work ''An harborowe for faithful and trewe subiectes'' (1559), to defend the female monarchy of Elizabeth I associating "the rule of boyes and women, or effeminate persons" and on another basis; "that cytie is at pits brinks, wherein magistrate ruleth lawes, and not the lawes the magistrate: What could any kyng in Israell do in that common wealth, besides the pollycie appointed by Moyses?". His effort to familiarise his fellow countrymen with the "strange and alluring vocabulary of politics", introducing them to the classical forms and terminology, must be viewed as secondary to this primary goal. Aylmer nevertheless described England as not "a mere monarchy, as some for lack of consideration think, nor a mere oligarchy, nor democracy, but a rule mixed of all these." 1 He goes on to say that in the mixed state, "each one of these have or should have like authority." He argued that in the king-in-Parliament, or, in Elizabeth's case, the queen-in-Parliament, was not the "image" of a mixed state "but the thing in deed." It was in Parliament that one found the three estates: "the king or queen, which representeth the monarchy; the noble men which be the aristocracy; and the burgesses and knights the democracy." As he says, "In like manner, ''if'' the Parliament use their privileges: the king can ordain nothing without them." Parliamentary restraint of a queen's feminine vices would, according to Aylmer, ameliorate the disadvantages of female monarchy. His work, particularly his characterisation of England as a mixed monarchy, would be important to later English constitutionalists.


Notes


References

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External links

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Likeness in the National Portrait Gallery''Historical Collection of the Life and Acts of John Aylmer''
by John Strype (1821 ed.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aylmer, John 1521 births 1594 deaths English constitutionalists Bishops of London Archdeacons of Stow 16th-century Church of England bishops People from King's Lynn and West Norfolk (district) 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers Marian exiles Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge English male non-fiction writers 16th-century English lawyers