Thomas Beard
Encyclopedia
Thomas Beard was an English clergyman and theologian, of Puritan
views. He is known as the author of The Theatre of God's Judgements, and the schoolmaster of Oliver Cromwell
at Huntingdon
.
, where he was a sizar
and matriculated in 1584. He graduated B.A. in 1588, M.A. in 1591, B.D. in 1602 and D.D. in 1614. He became rector of Kimbolton
in 1595. On 21 January 1598 he was collated to the rectory of Hengrave
, Suffolk
, which he held for a very short time, moving as rector to Aythorp Roothing, Essex
, later in the year. In 1605, Beard became master of Huntingdon hospital and grammar school, where he remained for twenty years. It was at this school that Cromwell was educated from around 1604, and was prepared for entrance to Cambridge; he acted in Beard's school plays, and Beard became a friend of the Cromwell family. In March 1614, Beard asked Sir Robert Bruce Cotton
for the rectory of Conington
, being tired of teaching. He held various rectories with his teaching job, in the end at Wistow
where he settled in 1618 for the rest of his life. In 1626, Beard also held a popular lectureship at Huntingdon.
In 1628, when Richard Neile
went before the House of Commons of England
accused of anti-puritan practices, Beard was summoned as a witness against him. Cromwell's speech in the debate on the subject covers his likely testimony (the parliament was dissolved before Beard could testify). Beard had been appointed in 1617 to preach a sermon on the Sunday after Easter
in London, in which, according to custom, he was to recapitulate three sermons previously preached before the lord mayor
from an open pulpit in Spital Square. William Alabaster
was the preacher whom Beard had to follow, but he announced his intention of exposing Alabaster's support of certain tenets of popery. On Cromwell's account, Neile as Beard's diocesan bishop
(diocese of Lincoln
) told him not to preach against Alabaster; and reprimanded him later when on the advice of Nicholas Felton
he did so.
In 1630 he was made a justice of the peace
for the county. He was married, and had children by Mary Heriman; they were married 9 July 1628. Edward Wedlake Brayley
in his Beauties of England and Wales recorded the inscription on a brass in the nave of All Saints Church, Huntingdon, to Beard's memory. In 1633 Archbishop William Laud
succeeded in putting the lectureship down.
's Acts and Monuments, it was popular, plagiarised and pirated. It was itself translated, in part, from the Histoires memorables des grans et merveilleux jugemens et punitions de Dieu by Jean de Chassanion (1531–1598), a Huguenot
pastor from Monistrol-sur-Loire
, from which it derives its account of the bullet catch
trick. Chassingnon's book provided hundreds of the examples, while Beard added in a scattering from other sources closer to home: Foxe, John Stowe, Raphael Holinshed
, pamphlets and ballad
s. Beard's exposition of the workings of Providence against sinners and persecutors has been called "theatrical moralism". It was in the Theatre of Judgement that first appeared an account of Christopher Marlowe
's death; Beard takes Marlowe to be the first modern atheist. Other editions followed in 1612 and 1631, with additions, and a fourth edition in folio of 1648.
In 1625 he published a work on the Pope as Antichrist
. Beard left in manuscript an Evangelical Tragoedie: or, A Harmonie of the Passion of Christ, according to the four Evangelistes. A Latin comedy Pedantius has been attributed to him, but also to Walter Hawkesworth, Anthony Wingfield
and (by modern scholars) to Edward Forsett
.
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
views. He is known as the author of The Theatre of God's Judgements, and the schoolmaster of 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....
at Huntingdon
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was chartered by King John in 1205. It is the traditional county town of Huntingdonshire, and is currently the seat of the Huntingdonshire district council. It is known as the birthplace in 1599 of Oliver Cromwell.-History:Huntingdon...
.
Life
He was, it is believed, a native of Huntingdon, but the date of his birth is unknown. He received his education at Jesus College, CambridgeJesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
, where he was a sizar
Sizar
At Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Cambridge, a sizar is a student who receives some form of assistance such as meals, lower fees or lodging during his or her period of study, in some cases in return for doing a defined job....
and matriculated in 1584. He graduated B.A. in 1588, M.A. in 1591, B.D. in 1602 and D.D. in 1614. He became rector of Kimbolton
Kimbolton
Kimbolton could be:*Kimbolton, Herefordshire*Kimbolton, Cambridgeshire**Kimbolton School**Kimbolton Castle**Kimbolton Airfield*Kimbolton Fireworks, the UK's only fireworks manufacturer*Kimbolton, Ohio*Kimbolton, New Zealand...
in 1595. On 21 January 1598 he was collated to the rectory of Hengrave
Hengrave
Hengrave is a small village in Suffolk, England. It is near the town of Bury St Edmunds....
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, which he held for a very short time, moving as rector to Aythorp Roothing, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, later in the year. In 1605, Beard became master of Huntingdon hospital and grammar school, where he remained for twenty years. It was at this school that Cromwell was educated from around 1604, and was prepared for entrance to Cambridge; he acted in Beard's school plays, and Beard became a friend of the Cromwell family. In March 1614, Beard asked Sir Robert Bruce Cotton
Robert Bruce Cotton
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Baronet was an English antiquarian and Member of Parliament, founder of the important Cotton library....
for the rectory of Conington
Conington
Conington, an English placename, could be*Conington, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire - about 15 km from Huntingdon*Conington, South Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire - 10 km from Huntingdon...
, being tired of teaching. He held various rectories with his teaching job, in the end at Wistow
Wistow, Cambridgeshire
' – in Huntingdonshire , England – is a village near Warboys south of Ramsey.-External links:*...
where he settled in 1618 for the rest of his life. In 1626, Beard also held a popular lectureship at Huntingdon.
In 1628, when Richard Neile
Richard Neile
Richard Neile was an English churchman, bishop of several English dioceses and Archbishop of York from 1631 until his death.-Early life:...
went before the House of Commons of England
House of Commons of England
The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...
accused of anti-puritan practices, Beard was summoned as a witness against him. Cromwell's speech in the debate on the subject covers his likely testimony (the parliament was dissolved before Beard could testify). Beard had been appointed in 1617 to preach a sermon on the Sunday after Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
in London, in which, according to custom, he was to recapitulate three sermons previously preached before the lord mayor
Lord Mayor
The Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.-Commonwealth of Nations:* In Australia it is a political position. Australian cities with Lord Mayors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong...
from an open pulpit in Spital Square. William Alabaster
William Alabaster
William Alabaster was an English poet, playwright, and religious writer. His surname is one of the many variants of "arbalester", a crossbowman....
was the preacher whom Beard had to follow, but he announced his intention of exposing Alabaster's support of certain tenets of popery. On Cromwell's account, Neile as Beard's diocesan bishop
Diocesan bishop
A diocesan bishop — in general — is a bishop in charge of a diocese. These are to be distinguished from suffragan bishops, assistant bishops, coadjutor bishops, auxiliary bishops, metropolitans, and primates....
(diocese of Lincoln
Diocese of Lincoln
The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire.- History :...
) told him not to preach against Alabaster; and reprimanded him later when on the advice of Nicholas Felton
Nicholas Felton
Nicholas Felton was an English academic, bishop of Bristol from 1617 to 1619, and then bishop of Ely.-Life:He was born in Great Yarmouth, and educated at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. He was rector of St Mary-le-Bow church in London, from 1597 to 1617; and also rector at St Antholin, Budge Row...
he did so.
In 1630 he was made a justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
for the county. He was married, and had children by Mary Heriman; they were married 9 July 1628. Edward Wedlake Brayley
Edward Wedlake Brayley
Edward Wedlake Brayley was an English antiquary and topographer.He was born at Lambeth, London. He was apprenticed to the enamelling trade, but developed an early interest in literature. His close friendship with John Britton lasted for sixty-five years...
in his Beauties of England and Wales recorded the inscription on a brass in the nave of All Saints Church, Huntingdon, to Beard's memory. In 1633 Archbishop 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...
succeeded in putting the lectureship down.
Works
Beard's earliest and most famous book first appeared in 1597; a work in the tradition of John FoxeJohn Foxe
John Foxe was an English historian and martyrologist, the author of what is popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, , an account of Christian martyrs throughout Western history but emphasizing the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the fourteenth century through the...
's Acts and Monuments, it was popular, plagiarised and pirated. It was itself translated, in part, from the Histoires memorables des grans et merveilleux jugemens et punitions de Dieu by Jean de Chassanion (1531–1598), a Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
pastor from Monistrol-sur-Loire
Monistrol-sur-Loire
Monistrol-sur-Loire is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.It is the birthplace of former Roman Catholic archbishop Armand-François-Marie de Charbonnel-See also:*Communes of the Haute-Loire department...
, from which it derives its account of the bullet catch
Bullet catch
The bullet catch is a conjuring illusion in which a magician appears to catch a bullet fired directly at him—often in his mouth, sometimes in his hand or caught with other items such as a dinner plate...
trick. Chassingnon's book provided hundreds of the examples, while Beard added in a scattering from other sources closer to home: Foxe, John Stowe, Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed
Raphael Holinshed was an English chronicler, whose work, commonly known as Holinshed's Chronicles, was one of the major sources used by William Shakespeare for a number of his plays....
, pamphlets and ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
s. Beard's exposition of the workings of Providence against sinners and persecutors has been called "theatrical moralism". It was in the Theatre of Judgement that first appeared an account of Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
's death; Beard takes Marlowe to be the first modern atheist. Other editions followed in 1612 and 1631, with additions, and a fourth edition in folio of 1648.
In 1625 he published a work on the Pope as Antichrist
Antichrist
The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...
. Beard left in manuscript an Evangelical Tragoedie: or, A Harmonie of the Passion of Christ, according to the four Evangelistes. A Latin comedy Pedantius has been attributed to him, but also to Walter Hawkesworth, Anthony Wingfield
Anthony Wingfield
Sir Anthony Wingfield MP KG PC of Letheringham, Suffolk, was an English soldier, politician, courtier and member of parliament...
and (by modern scholars) to Edward Forsett
Edward Forsett
Edward Forset was an English writer, known for political works and as a playwright.A justice of the peace, he was involved on the prosecution side of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot....
.