Life

He was the son of Anchor Brent of Little Wolford, Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

, where he was born about 1573. He became 'portionist,' or postmaster, of Merton College, Oxford

Merton College, Oxford

Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

, in 1589; proceeded B.A. on 20 June 1593; was admitted probationer fellow there in 1594, and took the degree of M.A. on 31 October 1598. He was proctor

Proctor

Proctor, a variant of the word procurator, is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another. The word proctor is frequently used to describe someone who oversees an exam or dormitory.The title is used in England in three principal senses:...

 of the university in 1607, and admitted bachelor of law on 11 October 1623.

In 1613 and 1614 he travelled abroad, securing the Italian text of the History of the Council of Trent which he was to translate. In 1616 he was in the Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 with Dudley Carleton

Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester

Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester was an English art collector, diplomat and Secretary of State.-Early life:He was the second son of Antony Carleton of Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire, and of Jocosa, daughter of John Goodwin of Winchendon, Buckinghamshire...

, ambassador there, who wrote about Brent’s ambitions to Ralph Winwood

Ralph Winwood

Sir Ralph Winwood was an English diplomat and politician.-Life:He was born at Aynhoe in Northamptonshire and educated at St John's College, Oxford....

. Soon after the close of his foreign tour Brent married Martha, the daughter and heiress of Robert Abbot, Bishop of Salisbury, and niece of George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury.

The influence of the Abbots secured Brent's election in 1622 to the wardenship of Merton College, in succession to Sir Henry Savile

Sir Henry Savile

Sir Henry Savile was an English scholar, Warden of Merton College, Oxford, and Provost of Eton.-Life:He was the son of Henry Savile of Bradley, near Halifax in Yorkshire, England, a member of an old county family, the Saviles of Methley, and of his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Ramsden.He was...

. He was afterwards appointed commissary of the diocese of Canterbury

Diocese of Canterbury

The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering eastern Kent, founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. It is centred on Canterbury Cathedral, and is the oldest see of the Church of England....

, and vicar-general to the archbishop, and on Sir Henry Marten's death became judge of the prerogative court. During the early years of William Laud

William Laud

William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...

's primacy (1634-7), Brent made a tour through England south of the Trent

River Trent

The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...

, reporting upon and correcting ecclesiastical abuses.

He had a house of his own in Little Britain, London

Little Britain, London

Little Britain is a street in the City of London running from St. Martin's Le Grand in the east to West Smithfield in the west. It is the northern boundary of St Bartholomew's Hospital and is situated in the Aldersgate and Farringdon Within wards. Postman's Park is situated by Little...

 and was often absent from Merton. On 23 August 1629 he was knighted at Woodstock by Charles I of England

Charles I of England

Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...

, who was preparing to pay a state visit to Oxford. In August 1636 Brent presented Prince Charles

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

 and Prince Rupert for degrees, when Laud, who had become Chancellor of the University of Oxford in 1630, was entertaining the royal family.

In 1638 Laud held a visitation of Merton College, and insisted on many radical reforms. Laud stayed at the college for many weeks, and found Brent an obstinate opponent. Charges of maladministration were brought against Brent by some of those whom Laud examined, but he took no public proceedings against Brent on these grounds. His letters to the warden are, however, couched in very haughty and decisive language. The tenth charge in the indictment drawn up Laud in 1641 treats of the unlawful authority exercised by him at Merton in 1638. Brent came forward as a hostile witness at Laud's trial. His testimony as to Laud's intimacy with papists and the like was damaging to the archbishop, but it did not add to his own reputation. Laud replied in writing to Brent's accusations.

On the outbreak of the First English Civil War

First English Civil War

The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...

 Brent sided with Parliament. Before Charles I entered Oxford (29 October 1642), he had abandoned Oxford for London. On 27 January 1645 Charles I wrote to the remaining Fellows at Merton that Brent was deposed from his office on the grounds of his having absented himself for three years from the college, of having adhered to the rebels, and of having accepted the office of judge-marshal in their ranks. He had also signed the Solemn League and Covenant

Solemn League and Covenant

The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians. It was agreed to in 1643, during the First English Civil War....

. The petition for the formal removal of Brent, to which the king's letter was an answer, was drawn up by John Greaves

John Greaves

John Greaves was an English mathematician, astronomer and antiquary.-Life:He was born in Colemore, near Alresford, Hampshire. He was the eldest son of John Greaves, rector of Colemore, and Sarah Greaves...

, Savilian professor of geometry

Savilian Professor of Geometry

The position of Savilian Professor of Geometry was established at the University of Oxford in 1619. It was founded by Sir Henry Savile, a mathematician and classical scholar who was Warden of Merton College, Oxford and Provost of Eton College, reacting to what has been described as "the wretched...

. On 9 April William Harvey

William Harvey

William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...

 was elected to fill Brent's place: but as soon as Oxford fell into the hands of Thomas Fairfax

Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron

Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War...

, the parliamentary general (24 June 1648), Brent returned to Merton, and apparently resumed his post there without any opposition being offered him.

In 1647 Brent was appointed president of the parliamentary commission, or visitation, ordered by Parliament "for the correction of offences, abuses, and disorders" in the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

. The proceedings began on 3 June, but it was not until 30 September that the colleges were directed to forward to Merton their statutes, registers, and accounts to enable Brent and his colleagues to set to work. On 12 April 1648 Brent presented four of the visitors for the degree of M.A. Early in May of the same year Brent spoke for Anthony à Wood's retention of his postmastership in spite of his avowed royalism. Wood wrote that he owed this favour to the intercession of his mother, whom Brent had known from a girl.

On 17 May 1649 Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 paid the university a threatening visit, and malcontents were thenceforth proceeded against by the commission with rigour. But Brent grew dissatisfied with its proceedings. The visitors claimed to rule Merton College as they pleased, and, without consulting the Warden, they admitted fellows, masters, and bachelors of arts. On 13 February 1651 he sent a petition of protest against the conduct of the visitors to parliament. The commissioners were ordered to answer Brent's complaint, but there is no evidence that they did so, and in October 1651 Brent retired from the commission. On 27 November following he resigned his office of Warden, nominally in obedience to an order forbidding pluralities, but his refusal to sign 'the engagement,' a statement of loyalty, was a probable cause of his resignation. Brent afterwards withdrew to his house in London, and died there on 6 November 1652. He was buried in St Bartholomew-the-Less

St Bartholomew-the-Less

St Bartholomew-the-Less is an Anglican church in the City of London. It is the official church of St Bartholomew's Hospital and is located within the hospital grounds.-History:...

.

Works

In 1620 he translated into English the History of the Council of Trent by Pietro Soane Polano (i.e. Paolo Sarpi

Paolo Sarpi

Fra Paolo Sarpi was a Venetian patriot, scholar, scientist and church reformer. His most important roles were as a canon lawyer and historian active on behalf of the Venetian Republic.- Early years :...

)). A second edition appeared in 1629, and another in 1676, Archbishop Abbot had caused the Latin original to be published for the first time in 1619 in London.

In 1625, asked by George Abbot, he republished the defence of the church of England Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae, first published in 1613 by Francis Mason

Francis Mason (archdeacon)

Francis Mason was an English churchman, archdeacon of Norfolk and author of Of the Consecration of the Bishops in the Church of England , a defence of the Church of England and the first serious rebuttal of the Nag's Head Fable put about as denigration of Matthew Parker and Anglican...

, archdeacon of Norfolk.

Family

Brent's daughter Margaret married Edward Corbet

Edward Corbet

Edward Corbet was an English clergyman, a member of the Westminster Assembly.-Life:He was born at Pontesbury in Shropshire, and was educated at Shrewsbury and Merton College, Oxford, where he was admitted a probationer fellow in 1624. Meanwhile he had taken his B.A. degree on 4 December 1622, and...

 of Merton College, a presbyterian, on whom Laud repeatedly refused to confer the living of Chartham

Chartham

Chartham is a village and civil parish in Kent, west of Canterbury.It is located on the Great Stour river which provided power for the paper mills up until some point before 1955. The name literally means ‘Village on rough ground’, and the word "Chart" is also found in other villages in Kent with...

.