William Sedgwick ( – ) was an English priest of

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 ...

views and mystical tendencies, known as the “apostle of the Isle of Ely” and “Doomsday Sedgwick”.

Life

He was the son of William Sedgwick of London, and was born in

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

about 1610. He matriculated at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named after ...

, on 2 December 1625 at the age of 15, and graduated

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) 21 June 1628, Oxford Master of Arts (MA Oxon) 4 May 1631. His tutor was George Hughes. On 5 February 1634, he was instituted to the rectory of

Farnham, Essex Farnham is a small village in Essex, England, situated near Bishop's Stortford. The main features are Farnham Church of England Primary School, the church and the Three Horseshoes pub in Hazel End, which some consider a hamlet in its own right. T ...

; he held the living of there until 1644, when he was succeeded by Giles Archer (instituted 27 April); but in 1642, leaving Farnham in charge of a curate, he moved to London. On 5 October 1641, a petition was made against William Fuller,

dean of Ely The position of Dean of Ely Cathedral, in East Anglia, England, in the Diocese of Ely was created in 1541 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The first Dean of Ely had been the last Benedictine prior of Ely. List of deans Early modern ...

and vicar of

St Giles-without-Cripplegate St Giles-without-Cripplegate is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on Fore Street within the modern Barbican complex. When built it stood without (that is, outside) the city wall, near the Cripplegate. The church is dedicated to S ...

, by the parishioners of Cripplegate, complaining that he had hindered the appointment of Sedgwick as Thursday lecturer at St Giles's. In 1642 Sedgwick became chaplain to the regiment of foot raised by William Constable. In 1644 he became the chief preacher in Ely, and by his evangelism gained the title of 'apostle of the Isle of Ely.' He has been classified as a Seeker, and was ready to listen to any claims to prophetic power. A woman in the neighbourhood of

Swaffham Prior Swaffham Prior is a small village in East Cambridgeshire, England. Lying 5 miles west of Newmarket, and two miles south west of Burwell, the village is often paired with its neighbour Swaffham Bulbeck, and are collectively referred to as 'Th ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, proclaimed the near advent of the

day of judgment The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord (; ar, یوم القيامة, translit=Yawm al-Qiyāmah or ar, یوم الدین, translit=Yawm ad-Dīn, ...

. Sedgwick adopted her date, and announced it at the house of Francis Russell of

Chippenham, Cambridgeshire Chippenham is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, part of East Cambridgeshire district around north-east of Newmarket and north-east of Cambridge. History The parish of Chippenham covers at the eastern end of Cambridgeshi ...

(father-in-law of

Henry Cromwell Henry Cromwell (20 January 1628 – 23 March 1674) was the fourth son of Oliver Cromwell and Elizabeth Bourchier, and an important figure in the Parliamentarian regime in Ireland. Biography Early life Henry Cromwell – the fourth son of Oli ...

). Nothing happened on the predicted day, but during the night there was a storm. From this episode, Sedgwick got the name of 'Doomsday Sedgwick.' At the end of 1647, he attended

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

Carisbrooke Castle Carisbrooke Castle is a historic motte-and-bailey castle located in the village of Carisbrooke (near Newport), Isle of Wight, England. Charles I was imprisoned at the castle in the months prior to his trial. Early history The site of Carisbro ...

with his ''Leaves of the Tree of Life''. Charles read part of the book and gave it back, saying he thought "the author stands in some need of sleep." In 1652 he was attracted by John Reeve, and, without becoming a disciple, supported him until Reeve died. In June 1657, he explained his position in a correspondence with Reeve. His preaching at Ely being terminated by the

Restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

, he retired to

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In 1663, having conformed, he became rector of Mattishall Burgh,

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 he died in London about 1669.

Works

Besides two sermons before Parliament (1642 and 1643), he published: * ''The Leaves of the Tree of Life'', 1648. * ''Some Flashes of Lightenings of the Sonne of Man'', 1648; reprinted 1830. * ''The Spirituall Madman ... a Prophesie concerning the King, the Parliament'', 1648 * ''Justice upon the Armie Remonstrance'', &c., 1649. * ''A Second View of the Army Remonstrance'', 1649. * ''Mr. W. S.'s Letter to ... Thomas Lord Fairfax in prosecution of his Answer to the Remonstrance of the Army'', 1649; part of this, with title ''Excerpta quaedam ex W. S. remonstrantia ad Generalem Exercitus'', is in ''Sylloge Variorum Tractatuum'', 1649. * ''Animadversions on a Letter ... to His Highness ... by ... Gentlemen. . .in Wales'', 1656. * ''Animadversions upon a book intituled Inquisition for the Blood of our Soveraign'', 1661.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sedgwick, William 17th-century English Puritan ministers 1610 births 1669 deaths Sedgwick family