Thomas Mason (1580–1619?) was an English clergyman and writer.
Life
On his own account, his father was the heir of
Sir John Mason
Sir John Mason (1503 – 20 April 1566) was an English diplomat and spy.
Origins and education
Mason was born to humble parents in Abingdon in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) in 1503. His father is said to have been a cowherd,* his mother was t ...
.
Mason was admitted at
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...
, on 29 November 1594, matriculated on 7 January 1595.
He may not have graduated; there is possible confusion with another Thomas Mason at Magdalen of the period.
From 1614 to 1619, Mason held the vicarage of
Odiham
Odiham () is a large historic village and civil parish in the Hart district of Hampshire, England. It is twinned with Sourdeval in the Manche Department of France. The 2011 population was 4,406. The parish in 1851 had an area of 7,354 acres wi ...
in
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
, and probably died around 1620. On 13 April 1621 his widow, Helen Mason, obtained a licence for twenty-one years to reprint his version of ''
Foxe's Book of Martyrs
The ''Actes and Monuments'' (full title: ''Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church''), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant Engli ...
'' for the benefit of herself and her children.
Its dedications to
George Abbot and
Sir Edward Coke
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...
probably proved their value in getting this protection, for a book that reflected typical political prejudices of the time after the
Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sought ...
. About ten years later Helen Mason's attempt to stretch the monopoly to cover a new abridgement of Foxe's work ran into a legal rebuff.
Works
He published:
* ''Christ's Victorie over Sathan's Tyrannie'', London, 1615; a condensed version of
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 ...
's ‘Book of Martyrs,’ with extracts from other works. The running title is ‘The Acts of the Church.’ An enlarged edition appeared in 1747–8 in 2 vols., edited by "Rev. Mr. Bateman, Rector of St. Bartholomew the Great", i.e. Richard Thomas Bateman.
* ''A Revelation of the Revelation … whereby the Pope is most plainly declared and proved to be Anti-Christ'', London, 1619.
Family
Mason's widow Helen married
Stephen Bachiler
Stephen Bachiler (About 1561 – 28 October 1656) was an English clergyman who was an early proponent of the separation of church and state in American Colonies. He is also known for starting such settlements as Hampton, New Hampshire.
Early life
...
, as his second wife,
[Dianne Marie Campbell Cobb, Warrington Crane Cobb, ''Cobb, Hayes, Halm & King ancestors'' (2000), p. 265.] or third wife, in 1627.
Richard Dummer Richard Dummer (158914 December 1679) was an early settler in New England who has been described as "one of the fathers of Massachusetts".
He made his fortune as a trader, operating out of the port of Southampton, England. He was a Puritan, which ...
married Thomas and Helen's daughter (Mary) Jane.
Notes
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Thomas
1580 births
1619 deaths
17th-century English Anglican priests
English writers