Peter du Moulin (1601–1684) was a French-English Anglican clergyman, son of the Huguenot pastor Pierre du Moulin and brother of Lewis du Moulin. He was the anonymous author of ''Regii sanguinis clamor ad coelum adversus paricidas Anglicanos'', published at The Hague in 1652, a royalist work defending Salmasius and including a strong attack on
John Milton
John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
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Life
He was born at Paris on 24 April 1601. After studying at Sedan and Leyden, he spent time at Cambridge, where he received the degree of D.D. About 1625, after an imprisonment at
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.St John the Baptist's Church, Chester, but there is no record of his having resided there. In 1640, however, on becoming D.D. at Leyden, he described himself as holding that benefice.
He was rector of Witherley,
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
First English Civil War
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Ang ...
he was first in Ireland as tutor in the Boyle family, and was next tutor at Oxford to the sons of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, Charles Boyle, 3rd Viscount Dungarvan and Richard Boyle (d. 1665), frequently preaching at St. Peter-in-the-East in Oxford. He was rector of Adisham, Kent, from 1646 (with a short intermission in 1660 on the reinstatement of John Oliver) till his death.
He sided, like his father, with the royalists, and wrote the scurrilous reply to Milton, ''Regii Sanguinis Clamor'', at the time mistakenly attributed to Alexander More. Du Moulin concealed his authorship until the Restoration, was consequently unmolested, and was in 1656 made D.D. at Oxford.
At the Restoration he was rewarded by a chaplaincy to Charles II and by succeeding in 1660 to his father's
prebend
A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...
(Stall IV) at
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...
.
John Le Neve
John Le Neve (1679–1741) was an English antiquary, known for his '' Fasti Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ'' ("Feasts of the Anglican Church"), a work of English church biography which has been published in many subsequent editions.
Origins
He was born on 2 ...
, ''Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae'', Series 1541-1857, III, iii. 23: 'Canon of 4th preb., Canterbury, 1660-1684', . He took up his residence there.
Du Moulin died 10 October 1684, and was buried in the Cathedral. Another brother, Cyrus, was for a time French pastor at Canterbury.