Chelsea College (17th century)
Encyclopedia
Chelsea College was a polemical college founded in London in 1609. This establishment was intended to centralize controversial writing against Catholicism
, and was the idea of Matthew Sutcliffe
, Dean of Exeter
, who was the first Provost. After his death in 1629 it declined as an institution.
was one of its best patrons, and supported it by grants and benefactions; he himself laid the first stone of the new edifice on 8 May 1609; gave timber for the building out of Windsor forest; and in the original charter of incorporation, bearing date 8 May 1610, ordered that it should be called "King James's College at Chelsey."
The building was begun upon a piece of ground called Thame Shot (or Thames Shot), a site of six acre
s, crown lands from Westminster Abbey
obtained at the dissolution of the monasteries, and leased by Sutcliffe from Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
. The College was to have consisted of two quadrangles, with a piazza along the four sides of the smaller court. Only one side of the first quadrangle was ever completed; and this range of buildings cost, according to Thomas Fuller
, above £3,000.
, Thomas Morton
, Richard Field, Robert Abbot, Miles Smith
, John Howson
, Martin Fotherby
, John Spenser
, John Prideaux
, and John Boys
, were among the original fellows, while the lay historians William Camden
(a personal friend of Sutcliffe) and John Hayward
were appointed to record and publish to posterity "all memorable passages in church or commonwealth."
Other original fellows included Benjamin Carier
, John Layfield
, Richard Brett
, William Covell
, Peter Lilly, Francis Burley, John White and William Hellier. Later were Edward Gee, and Nathanael Carpenter
.
thought of them as "controversy college", and he disliked public disputation as divisive. An engraving representing the building project, which was only very partially carried through, is in the second volume of Francis Grose
's Military Antiquities (1788).
Daniel Featley
was provost in 1630 as Sutcliffe's successor. William Slater was provost from 1645. The fourth and last provost was Samuel Wilkinson. The College was dissolved in the Interregnum
, by 1655.
Nothing of the buildings now remains. For a while, though, there was activity and interest in the premises. Francis Kynaston
wanted to move his royal academy
there, at a point when there were only two resident fellows. From 1641 there was a project to set up a pansophist institution in England, on the visit of Comenius
, and the Chelsea College building was mentioned in discussions of a Parliament-backed Universal College; this came to nothing. In the 1650s the College became a prison; and in the Second Anglo-Dutch War
of the mid-1660s it housed prisoners of war.
John Dury
in 1651 advocated that Parliament should renew the charter, and create a centre in the College for intelligencer
work; his close colleague Samuel Hartlib
also agitated that the revenue should be better spent. The grounds were granted to the Royal Society
, and a print of the original design is prefixed to The Glory of Chelsey Colledge revived, published in 1662 by John Darley (rector of Northull in Cornwall) who, in a dedication to Charles II, urged that monarch to grant a fixed revenue to the college. This royal grant was apparently reversed (or repurchased for a sum never handed over).
After proposals including an observatory, supported by John Flamsteed
but vetoed by Christopher Wren
in favour of Greenwich
, the site was devoted to Chelsea Hospital later in the reign of Charles II, with the old name still used in the following years. The king had wanted to keep open the chance of using the site also as a barracks for a standing army
. The situation was resolved only when Stephen Fox
, the major benefactor to the Hospital, put up £1300 of his own money for its purchase, and made a deal with the Royal Society through the good offices of John Evelyn
.
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
, and was the idea of Matthew Sutcliffe
Matthew Sutcliffe
Matthew Sutcliffe was an English clergyman, academic and lawyer. He became Dean of Exeter, and wrote extensively on religious matters as a controversialist. He served as chaplain to His Majesty King James I of England. He was the founder of Chelsea College, a royal centre for the writing of...
, Dean of Exeter
Dean of Exeter
The Dean of Exeter is the head of the Chapter of Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, England. The chapter was established by Bishop William Briwere who set up the offices of Dean and chancellor of Exeter Cathedral, allowing the chapter to elect those officers.The current Dean lives at the...
, who was the first Provost. After his death in 1629 it declined as an institution.
Foundation
James I of EnglandJames I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
was one of its best patrons, and supported it by grants and benefactions; he himself laid the first stone of the new edifice on 8 May 1609; gave timber for the building out of Windsor forest; and in the original charter of incorporation, bearing date 8 May 1610, ordered that it should be called "King James's College at Chelsey."
The building was begun upon a piece of ground called Thame Shot (or Thames Shot), a site of six acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s, crown lands from Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
obtained at the dissolution of the monasteries, and leased by Sutcliffe from Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham , known as Howard of Effingham, was an English statesman and Lord High Admiral under Elizabeth I and James I...
. The College was to have consisted of two quadrangles, with a piazza along the four sides of the smaller court. Only one side of the first quadrangle was ever completed; and this range of buildings cost, according to Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published after his death...
, above £3,000.
Fellows and members
The charter limited the number of members to a provost and nineteen fellows, of whom seventeen were to be in holy orders. The king himself nominated the members. Sutcliffe was the first provost, and John OverallJohn Overall (Bishop)
John Overall was the 38th bishop of the see of Norwich from 1618 until his death one year later. He had previously served as Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield , as Dean of St Pauls Cathedral from 1601, as Master of Catharine Hall from 1598, and as Regius Professor of Divinity at Cambridge...
, Thomas Morton
Thomas Morton (bishop)
Thomas Morton was an English churchman, bishop of several dioceses.-Early life:Morton was born in York on 20 March 1564. He was brought up and grammar school educated in the city and nearby Halifax. In 1582 he became a pensioner at St John's College, Cambridge from which he graduated with a BA in...
, Richard Field, Robert Abbot, Miles Smith
Miles Smith
Miles Smith was a scholar, theologian, and bibliophile.-Life:He attended Corpus Christi College, Oxford, but graduated from Brasenose, in the same University, where he "proved at length an incomparable theologist." In time, he became resident canon of Hereford Cathedral and earned his Doctor of...
, John Howson
John Howson
John Howson was an English academic and bishop.-Life:He was born in the London parish of St Bride's Church, and educated at St Paul's School....
, Martin Fotherby
Martin Fotherby
-Life:He was born in Grimsby, and studied at the University of Cambridge, where he became a Fellow of Trinity College.He was rector of St Mary-le-Bow, and then in 1596 a prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral...
, John Spenser
John Spenser
John Spenser was an English academic, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.-Life:He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, London, and Oxford....
, John Prideaux
John Prideaux
John Prideaux D.D. was an English academic and Bishop of Worcester.-Early life:The fourth son of John and Agnes Prideaux, he was born at Stowford House in the parish of Harford, near Ivybridge, Devon, England, on 17 September 1578...
, and John Boys
John Boys (Dean)
-Life:He was descended from an old Kentish family who boasted that their ancestor came into England with William the Conqueror, and who at the beginning of the seventeenth century had no less than eight branches, each with its capital mansion, in the county of Kent. The dean was the son of Thomas...
, were among the original fellows, while the lay historians William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
(a personal friend of Sutcliffe) and John Hayward
John Hayward
Sir John Hayward , English historian, was born at or near Felixstowe, Suffolk, where he was educated, and afterwards proceeded to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he took the degrees of B.A., M.A. and LL.D....
were appointed to record and publish to posterity "all memorable passages in church or commonwealth."
Other original fellows included Benjamin Carier
Benjamin Carier
Benjamin Carier was an English clergyman, a fellow of Chelsea College who was a well-publicised convert to Catholicism.-Life:He was born in Kent, in 1566, son of Anthony Carier, a minister of the Church of England. He was admitted to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, 28 February 1582, proceeded B.A...
, John Layfield
John Layfield (theologian)
John Layfield, D.D. was an English scholar and translator.Layfield was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood before proceeding to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow from 1585 to 1603. He was chaplain to George Clifford, the 3rd Earl of Cumberland on his 1592 voyage to...
, Richard Brett
Richard Brett
Richard Brett was an English clergyman and academic. During the translation of the King James Version of the Bible, Brett served in the "First Oxford Company", responsible for the later books of the Old Testament-Life:...
, William Covell
William Covell
-Life:He was born in Chadderton, Lancashire, England, and proceeded M.A. at Queens' College, Cambridge in 1588.In the 1590s Covell took part in the controversy about how far the newly-reformed Church of England should abandon the liturgy and hierarchy of the past, to which debate he contributed...
, Peter Lilly, Francis Burley, John White and William Hellier. Later were Edward Gee, and Nathanael Carpenter
Nathanael Carpenter
Nathanael Carpenter was an English author, philosopher, and geographer.-Life:He was son of John Carpenter, rector of Northleigh, Devon, and was born there on February 7, 1589. He matriculated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, on June 7, 1605; but was elected, on a recommendatory letter of James I, a...
.
History of the College
The scheme proved to be an ultimate failure. In consequence of a letter addressed by the king to Archbishop George Abbot, collections in aid of the institution were made in all the dioceses of England, but the amount raised was small, and hardly covered fees due to the collectors. After Sutcliffe's death the college sank into insignificance, and Charles I in 1636 refused to revive the moribund institution. William LaudWilliam Laud
William Laud was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism...
thought of them as "controversy college", and he disliked public disputation as divisive. An engraving representing the building project, which was only very partially carried through, is in the second volume of Francis Grose
Francis Grose
Francis Grose was an English antiquary, draughtsman, and lexicographer. He was born at his father's house in Broad Street, St-Peter-le-Poer, London, son of a Swiss immigrant and jeweller, Francis Jacob Grose , and his wife, Anne , daughter of Thomas Bennett of Greenford in Middlesex...
's Military Antiquities (1788).
Daniel Featley
Daniel Featley
Daniel Featley, also called Fairclough and sometimes called Richard Fairclough/Featley , was an English theologian and controversialist...
was provost in 1630 as Sutcliffe's successor. William Slater was provost from 1645. The fourth and last provost was Samuel Wilkinson. The College was dissolved in the Interregnum
Interregnum
An interregnum is a period of discontinuity or "gap" in a government, organization, or social order...
, by 1655.
Nothing of the buildings now remains. For a while, though, there was activity and interest in the premises. Francis Kynaston
Francis Kynaston
Sir Francis Kynaston or Kinaston was an English courtier and poet, noted for his translation of Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde into Latin verse ; he also made a Latin translation of Henryson's The Testament of Cresseid.-Life:He was born at Oteley, near Ellesmere, Shropshire, eldest son...
wanted to move his royal academy
Proposals for an English Academy
During the early part of the 17th century, and persisting in some form into the early 18th century, there were a number of proposals for an English Academy: some form of learned institution, conceived as having royal backing and a leading role in the intellectual life of the nation...
there, at a point when there were only two resident fellows. From 1641 there was a project to set up a pansophist institution in England, on the visit of Comenius
Comenius
John Amos Comenius ; ; Latinized: Iohannes Amos Comenius) was a Czech teacher, educator, and writer. He served as the last bishop of Unity of the Brethren, and became a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica...
, and the Chelsea College building was mentioned in discussions of a Parliament-backed Universal College; this came to nothing. In the 1650s the College became a prison; and in the Second Anglo-Dutch War
Second Anglo-Dutch War
The Second Anglo–Dutch War was part of a series of four Anglo–Dutch Wars fought between the English and the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries for control over the seas and trade routes....
of the mid-1660s it housed prisoners of war.
John Dury
John Dury
John Dury was a Scottish Calvinist minister and a significant intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he moved to Kassel in 1661, but he did not accomplish this...
in 1651 advocated that Parliament should renew the charter, and create a centre in the College for intelligencer
Intelligencer
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, an intelligencer is "One who conveys intelligence or information", "One employed to obtain secret information, an informer, a spy, a secret agent", or "A bringer of news; a messenger; an informant; a newsmonger"...
work; his close colleague Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib was a German-British polymath. An active promoter and expert writer in many fields, he was interested in science, medicine, agriculture, politics, and education. He settled in England, where he married and died...
also agitated that the revenue should be better spent. The grounds were granted to the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, and a print of the original design is prefixed to The Glory of Chelsey Colledge revived, published in 1662 by John Darley (rector of Northull in Cornwall) who, in a dedication to Charles II, urged that monarch to grant a fixed revenue to the college. This royal grant was apparently reversed (or repurchased for a sum never handed over).
After proposals including an observatory, supported by John Flamsteed
John Flamsteed
Sir John Flamsteed FRS was an English astronomer and the first Astronomer Royal. He catalogued over 3000 stars.- Life :Flamsteed was born in Denby, Derbyshire, England, the only son of Stephen Flamsteed...
but vetoed by Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
in favour of Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
, the site was devoted to Chelsea Hospital later in the reign of Charles II, with the old name still used in the following years. The king had wanted to keep open the chance of using the site also as a barracks for a standing army
Standing army
A standing army is a professional permanent army. It is composed of full-time career soldiers and is not disbanded during times of peace. It differs from army reserves, who are activated only during wars or natural disasters...
. The situation was resolved only when Stephen Fox
Stephen Fox
Sir Stephen Fox was an English politician.-Life:Stephen Fox was the son of William Fox, of Farley, in Wiltshire, a yeoman farmer...
, the major benefactor to the Hospital, put up £1300 of his own money for its purchase, and made a deal with the Royal Society through the good offices of John Evelyn
John Evelyn
John Evelyn was an English writer, gardener and diarist.Evelyn's diaries or Memoirs are largely contemporaneous with those of the other noted diarist of the time, Samuel Pepys, and cast considerable light on the art, culture and politics of the time John Evelyn (31 October 1620 – 27 February...
.