Smithfield, London
Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England.
Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Barth ...
.
Life
Peryn was educated at
Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to:
England
* Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol
* Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent
* Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...
in Oxford and there are records of him being there in 1529 and 1531, the year in which he was ordained.L. E. C. Wooding, Peryn, William (d. 1558) , ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 20 Feb 2012. He went to London and was a preacher strongly against heresy, and a chaplain to Sir John Port. Soon after
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
’s Royal Act of Supremacy, 1534, he went into exile, but in 1543returned to England, when he applied for the degree of Bachelor of Theology at Oxford. He became a chantrist at St Paul's and early in 1547 preached in favour of images in religious services.
With the accession of the Protestant Edward VI in 1547, Peryn went into exile again, spending several years in
Louvain
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic c ...
before returning to England in 1553 upon the accession of the Roman Catholic Mary I. That year, he was appointed prior of the Dominican house at St Bartholomew's in
Smithfield, London
Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England.
Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Barth ...
, the first religious house founded by Mary. On 8 February 1556 Peryn is recorded by the diarist Henry Machyn as preaching at Paul's Cross.
Peryn was the author of three books: ''Thre Godly Sermons of the Sacrament of the Aulter'' (1546); (1557); and (of which no copy survives).
The three godly sermons were originally preached at St Anthony's Hospital in London and are dedicated to
Edmund Bonner
Edmund Bonner (also Boner; c. 15005 September 1569) was Bishop of London from 1539 to 1549 and again from 1553 to 1559. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonised by the Protestant reforms intro ...
, Bishop of London. Peryn borrowed heavily from Bishop of Rochester John Fisher's , and in a preface he explains why he has published the sermons:
...
Peryn's was dedicated to two exiled English nuns: Katherine Palmer, abbess of the nuns at Syon in Isleworth, and Dorothy Clement, a Poor Clare at Louvain and the daughter of Sir Thomas More's adopted daughter
. It was also based on Nicolaus van Esch's ''Exercitia theologiae mysticae''. This work by Peryn was to have a long readership among English recusants and was much treasured by Margaret Clitheroe. It would be republished by a Catholic press of
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Duffy, pp. 191-192.
Peryn died in 1558 and was buried in St Bartholomew's on 22 August, at the high altar.
Notes
References
*L. E. C. Wooding, â Peryn, William (d. 1558) €™, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 20 Feb 2012.