William Stoughton developed the most complete and insightful version of
classical republicanism that had yet appeared in
England.
Biography
William Stoughton was the first student to matriculate to
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
and then was elected to the
Westminster School in 1561. He took his
Bachelor of Arts in 1565, a
Master of Arts in 1568, and supplicated for his
Bachelor of Civil Law in November 1571. Moving to
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 ...
after receiving his Bachelor of Civil Law, he was probably a client of the
Earl of Huntingdon. He probably knew Thomas Wood and
Anthony Gilby
Anthony Gilby (c.1510–1585) was an English clergyman, known as a radical Puritan and translator of the Geneva Bible, the first English Bible available to the general public. He was born in Lincolnshire, and was educated at Christ's College, Ca ...
, radical
puritans who were friends of the Earl. "Stoughton operated as a radical puritan "mole" within the Court of Arches, using his position as lay commissary to protect his friends in the parish of Groby, a puritan hotbed and a peculiar jurisdiction of the Court of Arches, from scrutiny by more rigorous elements inside the court."
He sat in
Parliament from 1584 to 1585 and took a role in leading religious agitation. His ''An abstract of certaine acts of parlement'' (1584) attacked episcopal pretensions, their civil functions and their seats in Parliament.
Stoughton also wrote ''An assertion for true and Christian church-policie'' (1604). After 40 years where the language of
mixed government died out in political language and the thought of men, he revived the old Elizabethan debate and theory over the
three estates.
Further reading
*Mendle, Michael, ''Dangerous Positions; Mixed Government, the Estates of the Realm, and the Making of the "Answer to the xix propositions"'',
University of Alabama Press, 1985. pp 98f.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stoughton, William
English constitutionalists
16th-century births
17th-century deaths
Members of the pre-1707 English Parliament for constituencies in Cornwall
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
English MPs 1584–1585
16th-century English writers
16th-century male writers
17th-century English writers
17th-century English male writers
16th-century English lawyers