English Puritan physician and controversial writer
John Bastwick
(1593?1654) was an English
Puritan
physician and controversial writer. He was punished for his sedition and this included having his ears removed. He was supported by petitions from his wife
Susanna Bestwick
.
Early life
[
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]
He was born at
Writtle
,
Essex
. He entered
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
, on 19 May 1614, but remained there only a very short time, and left the university without a degree.
[1]
He travelled and served for a time as a soldier, probably in the Dutch army. He then studied medicine abroad, and took the degree of M.D. at
Padua
. Back in England in 1623, he settled at
Colchester
, where he practised as a physician.
[2]
Career
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]
He was a
Latin
stylist, and began a career as controversial with Latin works. In 1634 he published in the Netherlands two anti-Catholic Latin treatises:
Elenchus Religionis Papisticae
, an answer to a Catholic called Richard Short; and
Flagellum Pontificis
, an argument in favour of
Presbyterianism
. The latter came under the notice of
William Laud
. He had Bastwick brought before the
Court of High Commission
, where he was convicted of a "scandalous libel", was condemned to pay a fine of £1,000 and costs, and was imprisoned in the
Gatehouse Prison
adjoining
Westminster Abbey
until he should recant. In 1636 Bastwick published
Πρ?ξει? τ?ν επισκ?πων, sive Apologeticus ad Praesules Anglicanos
, written in the Gatehouse against the high commission court.
In 1637 he produced in English the four parts of his
Letanie of Dr. John Bastwicke
, in which
bishops
were denounced as the enemies of God and the tail of
The Beast
. For this publication he was summoned before the
Star Chamber
. The request for a work in English came from the publisher John Wharton. The
Letanie
was printed by a Dutch press for
John Lilburne
, who had been brought to the Gatehouse in 1636 by the clothier Thomas Hewson and minister Edmund Rosier. Lilburne was just finishing an apprenticeship with Hewson, and smuggled the text abroad, but was betrayed by his assistant in importing the
Letanie
, John Chilliburne who worked for Wharton. At the time Bastwick was comfortable enough in prison, living with his wife and family and complaining that he ate roast meat only once a week.
[2]
[3]
Similar proceedings were taken against
William Prynne
for his
Histrio-Mastix
, and
Henry Burton
for "seditious" sermons. Bastwick's voluminous defence, which was also published, aggravated his case. He was found guilty, and along with the other sentenced to
lose his ears
in the
pillory
, to pay a fine of £5,000, and to be imprisoned for life.
[4]
This sentence was carried out with a supportive audience. Bestwick supplied his own scalpel and his wife Sussana kissed his ears before they were removed. After the event she took each ear and placed them by her bosom.
[4]
Bastwick was afterwards moved to
Star Castle, Isles of Scilly
. From there in November 1640 he was released by order of the
Long Parliament
, and in December entered London in triumph. Reparation to the amount of the fines imposed was ordered to be made to him (2 March 1641). In 1642, as the
First English Civil War
broke out, Bastwick was a captain of the
Leicester
trained bands
, and on 22 July he was taken prisoner by the royalists at Leicester, and sent prisoner to
York
.
[2]
Soon at liberty again, he published in 1643 a
Declaration demonstrating ... that all malignants, whether they be prelates, &c., are enemies to God and the church
. The Parliamentary success in the war brought by 1645 a new relationship into being between the Presbyterians and other Protestant groups, classified as Independents, such as the emerging
Quakers
and
Congregationalists
. Bastwick with Prynne was a hard-liner on the Presbyterian side; Burton wanted a less harsh approach, and by then Lilburne was a very popular Independent, beginning to found the
Levellers
.
[5]
Bastwick with Colonel Edward King arranged for Lilburne to be arrested on 19 July 1645 for words he had said against the
Speaker of the House of Commons
; he was in custody until October.
[6]
In 1648 Bastwick published two bitter tracts against the Independents, and in defence of himself against Lilburne.
Death
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]
Bastwick died in 1654. Richard Smith, in his "Obituary," gives 6 October 1654 as the date of his burial.
[2]
Private life
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]
Bastwick married
Susanna Poe
and they had five children. Twin girls, Judith and Dionise, were born in 1626, two boys named John in 1633 and 1646 and lastly Susanna born in 1640.
[4]
See also
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Notes
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References
[
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]
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
"
Bastwick, John
".
Dictionary of National Biography
. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885?1900.
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