John Stubbs
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John Stubbs (or Stubbe) (c. 1544 – after 25 September 1589) was an English
pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore inexpensive) booklets intended for wide circulation. Context Pamphlets were used to broadcast the writer's opinions: to articulate a polit ...
, political commentator and sketch artist during the
Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
. He was born in the County of
Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, and was educated at
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 ...
. After reading law at
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
, he lived at
Thelveton Thelveton (historically Thelton, earlier Telvetun) is a village in the English county of Norfolk. History The village of Thelveton was recorded in the Domesday book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – ...
, in the County of Norfolk. He was a committed
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 ...
, and he opposed the negotiations for marriage between
Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...
and
Francis, Duke of Anjou '' Monsieur'' Francis, Duke of Anjou and Alençon (french: Hercule François; 18 March 1555 – 10 June 1584) was the youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Early years He was scarred by smallpox at age eight, a ...
, a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
who was the brother of the King of France.


Publication of ''French Marriage'' pamphlet

In 1579 he put his opinions into a pamphlet entitled ''The Discovery of a Gaping Gulf whereunto England is like to be swallowed by another French Marriage, if the Lord forbid not the banns, by letting her Majesty see the sin and punishment thereof''. Copies of the text were later publicly burned in the kitchen stove of Stationer's Hall. The pamphlet argued that at forty-six years old Elizabeth was too old to have children and therefore had no need for marriage. He argued that English values, customs, language and morality would be undermined by so close a relationship with the French monarchy. Stubbs argued that his objective was to protect the freedom of thought and
free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been ...
that he said was associated with
Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
. The proposed marriage could lead to a restoration of Catholic orthodoxy with its diminution of liberty. Stubbs undiplomatically described the proposed wedding as a "contrary coupling," "an immoral union, an uneven yoking of the clean ox to the unclean ass, a thing forbidden in the law" as laid down by St. Paul, a "more foul and more gross" union that would draw the wrath of God on England and leave the English "pressed down with the heavy loins of a worse people and beaten as with scorpions by a more vile nation."


Trial, punishment, and further writing

Elizabeth's court were displeased by the publication. Circulation of this pamphlet was prohibited, and Stubbs, his printer, and publisher were tried at
Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
, found guilty of "seditious writing", and sentenced to have their right hands cut off by means of a cleaver driven through the wrist by a mallet. Initially Queen Elizabeth had favoured the death penalty but was persuaded by adviser John Jovey to opt for the lesser sentence. The printer was subsequently pardoned by Elizabeth, but in the case of Stubbs and his publisher the sentence was carried out, and Stubbs' right hand was cut off on 3 November 1579. At the time Stubbs protested his loyalty to the Crown, and immediately before the public dismemberment delivered a shocking pun: "Pray for me now my calamity is at hand.""Dismembering and Forgetting in Titus Andronicus". Katherine A. Rowe. ''
Shakespeare Quarterly ''Shakespeare Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America. It is now under the auspices of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Along with book and performance criticism, ''Shakespeare Qu ...
'', Vol. 45, No. 3. (Autumn, 1994), pp. 285
URL
/ref> His right hand having been cut off, he removed his hat with his left hand and cried "
God Save the Queen "God Save the King" is the national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in plainchant, bu ...
!" before fainting. Stubbs was subsequently imprisoned for eighteen months. On being released in 1581 he continued to write, publishing, among other pamphlets, a reply to Cardinal Allen's ''Defence of the English Catholics''. Despite his punishment, he remained a loyal subject of Queen Elizabeth and later served in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
as MP for
Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
in the
English Parliament The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised ...
of 1589.
History of Parliament Online article by 'A.G.R.S.', name heading John Stubbe (sic).
He died and was buried with military honours on the shore at
Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...
, France, where he seems to have gone to volunteer for military service (despite the disability caused by his punishment) under
Henry of Navarre Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...
. His will, dated 25 September 1589, was probated on 27 June 1590.


Marriage and issue

John Stubbs married Anne de Vere (d. 1617), widow of Christopher Shernborne (d. 7 July 1575), and daughter of Aubrey de Vere, second son of
John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, Lord Great Chamberlain KG PC (c. 1482 – 21 March 1540). was an English peer and courtier. Career John de Vere, born about 1482, was the son of John de Vere and Alice Kilrington (alias Colbroke), and the g ...
. By her marriage to Christopher Shernborne, Anne had a son, Francis Shernborne, esquire, who was the last of the male line to bear the surname. Francis Shernborne married Martha Colt, said to have been the daughter of Sir George Colt of
Cavendish, Suffolk Cavendish is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the River Stour, Suffolk, Stour Valley in Suffolk, England. History It is believed that Cavendish is called so because a man called Cafa once owned an ''eddish'' (pasture ...
, by whom he had a daughter and heir, Mary Colt, who married Sir Augustine Sotherton of
Taverham Taverham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Norfolk, in England. It is approximately 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Norwich. Taverham sits on the River Wensum. Taverham forms part the wider Norwich Built-up area. In ...
, near
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
. Stubbs was brother-in-law of the noted Puritan divine Thomas Cartwright, who married his sister Alice. Anne Stubbs, John's wife, was a
Brownist The Brownists were a group of English Dissenters or early Separatists from the Church of England. They were named after Robert Browne, who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England, in the 1550s. A majority of the Separatists aboard the ' ...
.P. Collinson, J. Craig and B. Usher, ''Conferences and Combination Lectures in the Elizabethan Church: Dedham and Bury St Edmunds 1582–1590'', Church of England Records Society Vol. 10 (Boydell Press, 2003), pp. 95–97.


Modern research on Stubbs

Linda Gregerson Linda Gregerson (born August 5, 1950) is an American poet and member of faculty at the University of Michigan. In 2014, she was named as a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Life Linda Gregerson received a B.A. from Oberlin College in ...
of the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
a book, ''Commonwealth of the Word: Nation and
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 ...
in Early Modern England'', that closely examines Stubbs' life and the contradictions of his loyalty to
the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
in light of his punishment, as well as the role of nationalism, patriotism and religion in shaping his beliefs.


References


Bibliography

* ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stubbs, John 1540s births 1591 deaths People from Thelveton Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers 16th-century Puritans English pamphleteers English male writers