Smectymnuus was the ''nom de plume'' of a group of

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

clergymen active in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1641. It comprised four leading English churchmen, and one Scottish minister ( Thomas Young). They went on to provide leadership for the anti-episcopal forces in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

, continuing into the

Westminster Assembly The Westminster Assembly of Divines was a council of divines (theologians) and members of the English Parliament appointed from 1643 to 1653 to restructure the Church of England. Several Scots also attended, and the Assembly's work was adopt ...

, where they also opposed the Independent movement. The name is an acronym derived from the initials of the five authors: Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young,

Matthew Newcomen Matthew Newcomen (c. 1610 – 1 September 1669) was an English nonconformist churchman. His exact date of birth is unknown. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge (M.A. 1633). In 1636 he became lecturer at Dedham in Essex, and led the ...

, and

William Spurstow William Spurstowe (Spurstow) (c. 1605–1666) was an English clergyman, theologian, and member of the Westminster Assembly. He was one of the Smectymnuus group of Presbyterian clergy, supplying the final WS (read as UUS) of the acronym. Life H ...

. Their first pamphlet, ''An Answer to a booke entituled, An Humble Remonstrance. In Which, the Original of Liturgy and Episcopacy is Discussed'', appeared in March, 1641. The pamphlet was written in response to Joseph Hall's ''An Humble Remonstrance to the High Court of Parliament''. It is thought that

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 politica ...

wrote the postscript for Smectymnuus's reply. This response provoked Hall to write another reply: ''A Defence of the Humble Remonstrance, against the Frivolous and false Expectations of Smectymnuus''. Smectymnuus answered Hall again with their ''A Vindication of the Answer to the Humble Remonstrance, from the Unjust Imputations of Frivolousnesse and Falsehood''. Milton also published two tracts defending the Smectymnuus group from Hall: '' Animadversions upon The Remonstrants Defence Against Smectymnvvs'' (1641) and '' Apology for Smectymnuus'' (1642). Thomas Young was a former tutor and close friend to Milton.

References

{{Reflist 1641 works Pamphlets British writers' organisations