Thomas Pierce
Encyclopedia
Thomas Pierce or Peirse was an English churchman and controversialist, a high-handed President of Magdalen College, Oxford
and Dean of Salisbury
.
or Peirse, a woollen-draper and mayor of Devizes
, Wiltshire
. He was appointed chorister of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1633, while receiving an education in Magdalen College School under. William White, for whom in 1662 he obtained preferment. On 7 December1638 he matriculated at the college, and in 1639 he became a demy. He graduated B.A. on 4 December 1641, and M. A. on 21 June 1644, noted as a poet and musician. In 1643 he was elected a fellow of his college, and was expelled on 15 May 1648 by the parliamentary visitors, a proceeding which gave rise to his satire upon them.
He entered the household of Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland
, as tutor to her only son Robert Spencer
. He spent some years in travelling with his pupil through France and Italy, and in 1656 he was presented by the countess to the rectory of Brington
, Northamptonshire
, which he held until 1676. In 1659 he was appointed praelector of theology at his college. Until the end of 1644 Pierce was a Calvinist, but he then changed his views, and attacked his abandoned opinions with the zeal of a neo-convert. For some time he was content to confine his thoughts to manuscript, but in 1655 he expounded his creed, that the sin in him was due to his own and not to God's will, and that the good done by him was received from the special grace and favour of God. Pierce then further defined his position. Controversy raged about these works until 1660, and in further tracts Pierce replied to attacks by William Barlee, rector of Brockhall, Northamptonshire
, Edward Bagshawe, Henry Hickman
, and Richard Baxter
. In 1658 he reprinted his contributions to the controversy.
, Pierce was reinstated in his fellowship, proceeding also D.D. on 7 August 1660, and being appointed in the same year chaplain-in-ordinary to Charles II. He became the seventh canon of Canterbury on 9 July 1660, and prebendary of Langford Major at Lincoln on 25 September 1662, holding both preferments until his death. After a strong opposition from some of the fellows, which was silenced by a letter from court, he was elected President of Magdalen College, Oxford, on 9 November 1661. He deprived Thomas Jeanes of his fellowship, ostensibly for a pamphlet justifying the proceedings of the parliament against Charles I, but really for criticising the latinity of his 'Concio Synodica ad Clerum'. Another of his victims was Henry Yerbury, a senior fellow and doctor of physic, whom he first put out of commons and then expelled. His conduct brought about a visitation of the college by George Morley
, bishop of Winchester
, whom he treated with discourtesy. Pierce endeavoured to justify his action against Yerbury, who vindicated his own conduct in a manuscript defence. Two vindications of Pierce appeared in the guise of lampoons, viz., 'Dr. Pierce his Preaching confuted by his Practice', and 'Dr. Pierce his Preaching exemplified in his Practice.' Pierce assisted John Dobson in the first and wrote the second himself, although Dobson, to screen him, owned the authorship, and was expelled from the university for a time. Eventually, after ten years of constant contentions with the fellows, he resigned at evening prayers in the chapel on 4 March 1672. He himself wrote to Henry More
that he had vacated his place for reasons of climate and love of private life, but he had been promised other preferment; and Humphry Prideaux says that he sold the headship of the college.
. During 1661 and 1662 many sermons were preached by him in London, including one delivered on 1 February 1663 before the king at Whitehall
against the Roman catholic church. This pronouncement produced a furious controversy. Within a year it ran through at least eight editions, and it was translated and printed in several foreign languages. Two replies by J. S., usually attributed to John Sergeant
, were published in 1663, and it was also answered by S. C., i.e. Serenus Cressy. Daniel Whitby
, Meric Casaubon
in 1665, and John Dobson defended Pierce, who himself retorted in 'A Specimen of Mr. Cressy's Misadventures,' which was prefixed to John Sherman's 'Infallibility of the Holy Scriptures.'
Samuel Pepys
heard Pierce preach on 8 April 1663, and described him as having 'as much of natural eloquence as most men that ever I heard in my life, mixed with so much learning.' Years later, John Evelyn
complained of a sermon by him at Whitehall 'against our late schismatics,' that it was a rational discourse, but a little oversharp, and not at all proper for the auditory there.'
, by ranging himself with the choir against episcopal monition. Trouble again arose between his diocesan and himself about 1683, when his only surviving son, Robert Pierce, was denied a prebendal stall in the cathedral. The dean much resented this refusal, and entangled the bishop in controversy. He asserted that the dignities connected with the cathedral church of Salisbury were in the gift of the crown, and communicated this view to the ecclesiastical commissioners. By their command he wrote a 'Narrative' in the king's interest, and the bishop answered it with a similar 'Narrative.' These circulated in manuscript, and the dean followed up his action by printing anonymously and for private circulation in 1683 'A Vindication of the King's Sovereign Right.' This was also printed as an appendix to the 'History and Antiquities of Cathedral of Salisbury and Abbey of Bath,' 1723. Through this controversy Ward was forced to visit London several times.
The dean had purchased an estate in the parish of North Tidworth, a few miles north of Amesbury
in Wiltshire. He died there on 28 March 1691, and was buried in the churchyard of Tidworth. At his funeral there was given to every mourner a copy of his book entitled 'Death considered as a Door to a Life of Glory [anon.] Printed for the Author's private use,' n.d. [1690 ?] His grave represented a small stone banquetting house; an inscription, made by himself a little before his death, was engraved on a brass plate fastened to the roof of the church. Pierce's wife Susanna died in June 1696, and was also buried in the churchyard of North Tidworth. Robert, his son, became rector of North Tidworth in 1680, and through the favour of Anne, then princess of Denmark, was appointed prebendary of Chardstock in Salisbury Cathedral in 1689. He retained both these preferments until his death in 1707.
As a popular preacher Pierce was the author of many printed sermons. With the exception of three, all were included in A Collection issued in 1671.
Pierce corrected, amended, and completed for the press the Annales Mundi, 1655, and compiled the Variantes Lectiones ex Annotatis Hug. Grotii, cum ejusdem de iis judicio, which forms the fifteenth article in the last volume of Brian Walton's Polyglot Bible. He contributed verses to the Oxford collections, Horti Carolini rosa altera, 1640; On Queen Henrietta Maria's Return from Holland, 1643; and on the death of the queen, 1669.
He was also the author of the anonymous poem Caroli τοῦ μακαρίτου Παλιγγενεσία, 1649, which was included in the same year in Monumentum Regale, a Tombe for Charles I. This poem was also appended to Pierce's Latin translation (1674 and 1675) of Reasons of Charles I against the pretended Jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, 22 Jan. 1648, along with Latin epitaphs on Charles I, Henry Hammond
, Jeffry Palmer, and several friends; and some hymns, which are said to have been set to music by Nicholas Lanier
and others. Anthony Wood
asserts that the music of the Divine Anthems of William Child
was set to the poetry of Pierce. Arthur Phillips is also said to have composed music for his poems.
He encouraged by his patronage William Walker the grammarian, Thomas Smith
, and John Rogers the musician.
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
and Dean of Salisbury
Dean of Salisbury
The Dean of Salisbury is the Head of the Chapter of Salisbury Cathedral in the Church of England. The current Dean is The Very Revd June Osborne, who was installed in 2004.-Selected office-holders:*Walter 1102*Osbert 1105*Robert 1111*Serlo 1122...
.
Early life
He was the son of John PierceJohn Pierce
John Pierce is the name of:* John J. Pierce , writer* John M. Pierce , American amateur astronomer* John R. Pierce , American engineer, Professor, and author* John Pierce, member of the group Pablo CruiseSee also...
or Peirse, a woollen-draper and mayor of Devizes
Devizes
Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. The town is about southeast of Chippenham and about east of Trowbridge.Devizes serves as a centre for banks, solicitors and shops, with a large open market place where a market is held once a week...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. He was appointed chorister of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1633, while receiving an education in Magdalen College School under. William White, for whom in 1662 he obtained preferment. On 7 December1638 he matriculated at the college, and in 1639 he became a demy. He graduated B.A. on 4 December 1641, and M. A. on 21 June 1644, noted as a poet and musician. In 1643 he was elected a fellow of his college, and was expelled on 15 May 1648 by the parliamentary visitors, a proceeding which gave rise to his satire upon them.
He entered the household of Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland
Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland
Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland was the wife of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland and the daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester....
, as tutor to her only son Robert Spencer
Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland
Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland KG, PC was an English statesman and nobleman.-Life:Born in Paris, son of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland, Spencer inherited his father's peerage dignities at the age of three, becoming Baron Spencer of Wormleighton and Earl of Sunderland...
. He spent some years in travelling with his pupil through France and Italy, and in 1656 he was presented by the countess to the rectory of Brington
Brington
Brington is a civil parish in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. At the time of the 2001 census, the parish population was 482 people.It contains three villages:*Great Brington*Little Brington*Nobottle-Notable people:...
, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, which he held until 1676. In 1659 he was appointed praelector of theology at his college. Until the end of 1644 Pierce was a Calvinist, but he then changed his views, and attacked his abandoned opinions with the zeal of a neo-convert. For some time he was content to confine his thoughts to manuscript, but in 1655 he expounded his creed, that the sin in him was due to his own and not to God's will, and that the good done by him was received from the special grace and favour of God. Pierce then further defined his position. Controversy raged about these works until 1660, and in further tracts Pierce replied to attacks by William Barlee, rector of Brockhall, Northamptonshire
Brockhall, Northamptonshire
Brockhall is a civil parish and village in the Daventry district of Northamptonshire in England. Brockhall, like many estate villages, is a small settlement based around the hall...
, Edward Bagshawe, Henry Hickman
Henry Hickman
Henry Hickman was an English ejected minister and controversialist.-Life:A native of Worcestershire, he was educated at St Catharine Hall, Cambridge, where he proceeded B.A. in 1648. At the end of 1647 he entered Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and the next year obtained by favour of the parliamentary...
, and Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter
Richard Baxter was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he made his reputation by his ministry at Kidderminster, and at around the same time began a long...
. In 1658 he reprinted his contributions to the controversy.
College head
At the RestorationEnglish Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
, Pierce was reinstated in his fellowship, proceeding also D.D. on 7 August 1660, and being appointed in the same year chaplain-in-ordinary to Charles II. He became the seventh canon of Canterbury on 9 July 1660, and prebendary of Langford Major at Lincoln on 25 September 1662, holding both preferments until his death. After a strong opposition from some of the fellows, which was silenced by a letter from court, he was elected President of Magdalen College, Oxford, on 9 November 1661. He deprived Thomas Jeanes of his fellowship, ostensibly for a pamphlet justifying the proceedings of the parliament against Charles I, but really for criticising the latinity of his 'Concio Synodica ad Clerum'. Another of his victims was Henry Yerbury, a senior fellow and doctor of physic, whom he first put out of commons and then expelled. His conduct brought about a visitation of the college by George Morley
George Morley
George Morley D.D. was an English bishop.-Life:He was born in London, England, and educated at Westminster school and the University of Oxford. In 1640, he was presented to the sinecure living of Hartfield, Sussex, and in the following year he was made canon of Christ Church, Oxford and exchanged...
, bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
, whom he treated with discourtesy. Pierce endeavoured to justify his action against Yerbury, who vindicated his own conduct in a manuscript defence. Two vindications of Pierce appeared in the guise of lampoons, viz., 'Dr. Pierce his Preaching confuted by his Practice', and 'Dr. Pierce his Preaching exemplified in his Practice.' Pierce assisted John Dobson in the first and wrote the second himself, although Dobson, to screen him, owned the authorship, and was expelled from the university for a time. Eventually, after ten years of constant contentions with the fellows, he resigned at evening prayers in the chapel on 4 March 1672. He himself wrote to Henry More
Henry More
Henry More FRS was an English philosopher of the Cambridge Platonist school.-Biography:Henry was born at Grantham and was schooled at The King's School, Grantham and at Eton College...
that he had vacated his place for reasons of climate and love of private life, but he had been promised other preferment; and Humphry Prideaux says that he sold the headship of the college.
Controversialist
On 16 June 1662 he had been appointed to the lectureship at CarfaxCarfax
Carfax may refer to: about car history.* Carfax , a website with vehicle history information* Carfax 250, a motor race* Carfax, Oxford, England* The centre of Horsham, West Sussex, England...
. During 1661 and 1662 many sermons were preached by him in London, including one delivered on 1 February 1663 before the king at Whitehall
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road in Westminster, in London, England. It is the main artery running north from Parliament Square, towards Charing Cross at the southern end of Trafalgar Square...
against the Roman catholic church. This pronouncement produced a furious controversy. Within a year it ran through at least eight editions, and it was translated and printed in several foreign languages. Two replies by J. S., usually attributed to John Sergeant
John Sergeant (priest)
John Sergeant was an English Roman Catholic priest, controversialist and theologian.-Life:He was son of William Sergeant, a yeoman in Barrow-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, and was admitted in 1639 as a sub-sizar at St John's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1643...
, were published in 1663, and it was also answered by S. C., i.e. Serenus Cressy. Daniel Whitby
Daniel Whitby
Daniel Whitby was a controversial English theologian and biblical commentator. An Arminian priest in the Church of England, Whitby was known as strongly anti-Calvinistic and later gave evidence of strong Arian and Unitarian tendencies....
, Meric Casaubon
Méric Casaubon
Méric Casaubon , son of Isaac Casaubon, was a French-English classical scholar...
in 1665, and John Dobson defended Pierce, who himself retorted in 'A Specimen of Mr. Cressy's Misadventures,' which was prefixed to John Sherman's 'Infallibility of the Holy Scriptures.'
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
heard Pierce preach on 8 April 1663, and described him as having 'as much of natural eloquence as most men that ever I heard in my life, mixed with so much learning.' Years later, 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...
complained of a sermon by him at Whitehall 'against our late schismatics,' that it was a rational discourse, but a little oversharp, and not at all proper for the auditory there.'
Dean of Salisbury
On 4 May 1675 Pierce was admitted and installed as dean of Salisbury. He quarrelled with his chapter, and its members appealed to the archbishop. He invited a quarrel with his bishop, Seth WardSeth Ward (bishop)
Seth Ward was an English mathematician, astronomer, and bishop.-Early life:He was born in Hertfordshire, and educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1636 and M.A. in 1640, becoming a Fellow in that year...
, by ranging himself with the choir against episcopal monition. Trouble again arose between his diocesan and himself about 1683, when his only surviving son, Robert Pierce, was denied a prebendal stall in the cathedral. The dean much resented this refusal, and entangled the bishop in controversy. He asserted that the dignities connected with the cathedral church of Salisbury were in the gift of the crown, and communicated this view to the ecclesiastical commissioners. By their command he wrote a 'Narrative' in the king's interest, and the bishop answered it with a similar 'Narrative.' These circulated in manuscript, and the dean followed up his action by printing anonymously and for private circulation in 1683 'A Vindication of the King's Sovereign Right.' This was also printed as an appendix to the 'History and Antiquities of Cathedral of Salisbury and Abbey of Bath,' 1723. Through this controversy Ward was forced to visit London several times.
The dean had purchased an estate in the parish of North Tidworth, a few miles north of Amesbury
Amesbury
Amesbury is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is most famous for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is in its parish, and for the discovery of the Amesbury Archer—dubbed the King of Stonehenge in the press—in 2002...
in Wiltshire. He died there on 28 March 1691, and was buried in the churchyard of Tidworth. At his funeral there was given to every mourner a copy of his book entitled 'Death considered as a Door to a Life of Glory [anon.] Printed for the Author's private use,' n.d. [1690 ?] His grave represented a small stone banquetting house; an inscription, made by himself a little before his death, was engraved on a brass plate fastened to the roof of the church. Pierce's wife Susanna died in June 1696, and was also buried in the churchyard of North Tidworth. Robert, his son, became rector of North Tidworth in 1680, and through the favour of Anne, then princess of Denmark, was appointed prebendary of Chardstock in Salisbury Cathedral in 1689. He retained both these preferments until his death in 1707.
Works
Among Pierce's other works were:- The Signal Diagnostic, whereby to judge of our Affections and present and future Estate, 1670.
- A Decade of Caveats to the People of England, 1679; against popery and dissent, and mostly preached in Salisbury Cathedral.
- The first of Two Letters containing a further Justification of the Church of England against Dissenters, 1682.
- Pacificatorium Orthodoxae Theologiae Corpusculum, 1683 and 1685, a treatise for young men entering into holy orders.
- The Law and Equity of the Gospel, or the Goodness of our Lord as a Legislator, 1686.
- Articles to be enquired of within the peculiar Jurisdiction of Thomas Pierce, Dean of Sarum, in his Triennial Visitation, 168 [sic].
- A Prophylactick from Disloyalty in these Perilous Times, in a letter to Herbert, bishop of Hereford, 1688; in support of the declaration of James II, and signed 'Theophilus Basileus.'
- An effectual Prescription against the Anguish of all Diseases', 1691; apparently posthumous.
As a popular preacher Pierce was the author of many printed sermons. With the exception of three, all were included in A Collection issued in 1671.
Pierce corrected, amended, and completed for the press the Annales Mundi, 1655, and compiled the Variantes Lectiones ex Annotatis Hug. Grotii, cum ejusdem de iis judicio, which forms the fifteenth article in the last volume of Brian Walton's Polyglot Bible. He contributed verses to the Oxford collections, Horti Carolini rosa altera, 1640; On Queen Henrietta Maria's Return from Holland, 1643; and on the death of the queen, 1669.
He was also the author of the anonymous poem Caroli τοῦ μακαρίτου Παλιγγενεσία, 1649, which was included in the same year in Monumentum Regale, a Tombe for Charles I. This poem was also appended to Pierce's Latin translation (1674 and 1675) of Reasons of Charles I against the pretended Jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, 22 Jan. 1648, along with Latin epitaphs on Charles I, Henry Hammond
Henry Hammond
Henry Hammond was an English churchman.-Early life:He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the youngest son of John Hammond, physician. He was educated at Eton College, and from age 13 at Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming demy or scholar in 1619. On 11 December 1622 he graduated B.A....
, Jeffry Palmer, and several friends; and some hymns, which are said to have been set to music by Nicholas Lanier
Nicholas Lanier
Nicholas Lanier, sometimes Laniere was an English composer, singer, lutenist and painter....
and others. Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood or Anthony à Wood was an English antiquary.-Early life:Anthony Wood was the fourth son of Thomas Wood , BCL of Oxford, where Anthony was born...
asserts that the music of the Divine Anthems of William Child
William Child
William Child was an English composer and organist.Born in Bristol, William Child was a chorister in the cathedral under the direction of Elway Bevin. In 1630 he began his lifetime association with St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, becoming first a lay-clerk and, from 1632, Master of the...
was set to the poetry of Pierce. Arthur Phillips is also said to have composed music for his poems.
He encouraged by his patronage William Walker the grammarian, Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith (scholar)
Thomas Smith was an English scholar, expelled Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and non-juring divine.-Early life and academic career:...
, and John Rogers the musician.