English cleric and prelate (1577?1641)
Richard Montagu
(or
Mountague
) (1577 ? 13 April 1641) was an English
cleric
and
prelate
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Montagu was born during
Christmastide
1577 at
Dorney
, Buckinghamshire, where his father Laurence Mountague was
vicar
, and was educated at
Eton
. He was elected from Eton to a scholarship at
King's College, Cambridge
, and admitted on 24 August 1594. His name occurs in the list of
junior fellows
for the quarter
Midsummer
to
Michaelmas
1597. He graduated
BA
before
Lady Day
1598,
MA
1602,
BD
1609.
[1]
He assisted
Sir Henry Savile
in the
literary
work he carried on at Eton, and the second book issued from the Eton press was his edition of
The two Invectives of Gregory Nazianzen against Julian
, 1610. He was also to have edited
Basil the Great
, but the work was never completed.
[2]
In 1610, he received the
living
of
Wootton Courtney
, Somerset; on 29 April 1613, he was admitted
Fellow
of Eton and in the same year received the
rectory
of
Stanford Rivers
, Essex. On 9 December 1616 he was installed
Dean of Hereford
, a post which he exchanged with
Oliver Lloyd
for a
canonry
of
Windsor
, in which he was installed on 6 September 1617. He was admitted
Archdeacon of Hereford
on 15 September 1617. He held also the rectory of
Petworth
, Sussex, where he rebuilt the
parsonage
, and was chaplain to the king. He held these
preferments
with his fellowship at Eton by dispensation from James I.
[2]
Controversial writer
[
edit
]
On the death, in 1614, of
Isaac Casaubon
, with whom he had previously corresponded about the
Exercitationes ad Baronii Annales
(against
Baronius
), Montagu was directed by the King to publish the work. It appeared the same year, and in 1615 James requested him to prepare an answer to Baronius on similar lines. This work, based on studies of classical and patristic antiquity, was at first apparently held back at Archbishop
George Abbot
's command, but it was issued in 1622 under the title of
Analecta Ecclesiasticarum Exercitationum
. In the epistle dedicatory addressed to the King, Montagu states his object to be to trace the origins of Christian faith and doctrine, and show that the Anglican position was derived from the "ancient founts". Montagu's aim was to support the
Church of England
against its enemies. He would not recognise the foreign Reformed bodies as lawful branches of the church. He never completed the task which he had set himself.
[2]
In his
Diatribae upon the first part of the late History of Tithes
, 1621, he entered directly into the controversy of the day, in an attempt to beat
John Selden
on
tithes
. Controversy against Catholic teachers in his parish was answered in a pamphlet called
A Gag for the New Gospel
, by
Matthew Kellison
; he replied in
A Gagg for the New Gospell? No. A New Gagg for an old Goose
, 1624. The 'Gagg' had contained forty-seven propositions which it attributed to the Church of England. Of these Montagu only allowed eight to be her true doctrine, again demarcating Anglican doctrine on two fronts. He also issued a defensive work,
[3]
rebutting
Marco Antonio de Dominis
who charged Montagu with supporting "praying unto saints and angels in time of need". It proved a magnet for controversy, with answer after answer coming from the presses. There was a complaint from two East Anglian ministers,
John Yates
and
Nathaniel Ward
; Ward had been overseas to 1624, and it was a few years later that he became vicar of
Stondon Massey
, close to Stanford Rivers in Essex, and one of
Thomas Hooker
's anti-Laudian group.
[4]
[5]
The House of Commons referred the book to Abbot. Abbot applied for authority to the King, and remonstrated with Montagu. But James himself approved of his work. "If that is to be a Papist" he said, "so am I a Papist". The matter did not rest with the King's death.
[2]
Appello
[
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]
Controversy around Montagu's positions played an important part in the period 1625?9, both in publications and in political moves, and was one of the issues setting the tone for the reign of
Charles I
. Montagu had the open support of three bishops (
John Buckeridge
,
John Howson
, and
William Laud
). His
Appello Caesarem: a just Appeale from two unjust Informers
(London, 1625) came out with an imprimatur from
Francis White
, dean of Carlisle, after George Abbot's refusal to license it. It was partly written in self-justification, but also attacked some Calvinist tenets, including the
perseverance of the saints
.
[6]
Francis Rous
defended
double predestination
against Montagu in
Testis Veritatis
(1626).
[2]
[7]
The House of Commons took up the matter, and accused the author of dishonouring the late King (James I). A debate on the matter was followed by Montagu's committal to the custody of the
serjeant-at-arms
. He was, however, allowed to return to Stanford Rivers on giving a bond. Charles then made Montagu one of his chaplains, and let the Commons know on 9 July that he was displeased. On 11 July parliament was prorogued. On 2 August, when the parliament was sitting at Oxford, Montagu was too ill to attend, and after discussion in which
Edward Coke
and
Robert Heath
took part, the matter was allowed to drop. But the question was too serious to rest for long. On 16 and 17 January 1626 a conference was held by Charles's command, as the result of which the bishops of London (
George Montaigne
), Durham (
Richard Neile
), Winchester (
Lancelot Andrewes
), Rochester (Buckeridge), and St. David's (Laud) reported to
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
that Montagu had not gone further than the doctrine of the Church of England, or what was compatible with it.
York House Conference
[
edit
]
The January meeting was followed shortly by a watershed conference beginning 11 February, prompted by
Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick
in Buckingham's house,
York House, Strand
, and later called the York House conference. It took place with the Bishop of Lichfield (
Thomas Morton
) and the master of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
(
John Preston
), representing the opposition to Montagu and Francis White. Buckeridge, supported by White and
John Cosin
, defended Montagu's orthodoxy. Buckeridge even denied that the
Council of Trent
had erred in any directly fundamental article of faith. A second conference was held a few days later, at which Montagu defended his theses in person against Morton and Preston.
[8]
The two days of discussion, attended by nobility, changed no minds.
Subsequent developments
[
edit
]
The committee of religion renewed their censure of the
Appeal
, and the House of Commons voted a petition to the King that the author might be fitly punished and his book burned. The King issued a proclamation (14 June 1626) commanding silence on points of controversy. In March 1628 the House of Commons again appointed a committee of religion to inquire into the cases of Montagu,
Roger Mainwaring
, and Cosin.
[2]
Montagu still had the strongest supporters at court in Laud and Buckingham himself; and on the death of
George Carleton
, bishop of Chichester and an opponent, he was appointed to the vacant see. He was elected on 14 July 1628 and received dispensation to hold Petworth with his bishopric. On 22 August Montagu was confirmed in Bow Church. During the ceremony one Jones, a stationer, made objection to the confirmation but the objection was over-ruled as informal; and on 24 August he was consecrated at
Croydon
, on the same day that news came of Buckingham's assassination. A bitter pamphlet, called
Anti-Montacutum, an Appeale or Remonstrance of the Orthodox Ministers of the Church of England against Richard Mountague
, was published in 1629 at Edinburgh. The House of Commons again took up the matter, and attempts were made at conciliation, by the issue of the declaration prefixed to the
Thirty-nine Articles
and printed in the
Book of Common Prayer
, by a letter from Montagu to Abbot disclaiming
Arminianism
, by the grant of a special pardon to Montagu, and by the issue of a proclamation suppressing the
Appello Caesarem
.
[2]
Bishop
[
edit
]
In his diocese Montagu lived at
Aldingbourne
and
Petworth
. His process to recover the estate and manor of
Selsey
, Sussex was decided against him by Robert Heath, now chief justice, in the common pleas, in 1635. He was still engaged in his research into ecclesiastical history, and published several treatises. In 1638 he was at work on a book on the Eucharistic Sacrifice, which he submitted to the approval of Laud. He was also apparently at this time much mixed up in the tortuous negotiations with the papacy which were conducted through
Gregorio Panzani
; at the same time Montagu was asking licence for his son to visit Rome, and the matter became in the hands of
William Prynne
a plausible accusation of romanising.
[2]
On the translation of
Matthew Wren
, bishop of Norwich, to Ely, Montagu was appointed to the vacant see. He was elected on 4 May 1638, and the election received the royal assent on 9 May. He had long been suffering from a
quartan ague
, as well as
gout
and
kidney stones
. He was again attacked in the House of Commons on 23 February 1641 on account of a petition from the inhabitants of St. Peter Mancroft,
Norwich
, against an inhibition directed by the bishop against Mr. Carter, parson of that parish, and a commission was appointed to consider his offences. Before any further steps were taken, he died on 13 April 1641, and was buried in
Norwich Cathedral
.
[2]
Works
[
edit
]
Besides works already mentioned, Montagu wrote:
[2]
- Antidiatribae ad priorern partem diatribes J. Caesaris Bulengeri
, Cambridge, 1625.
- Eusebii de Demonstratione Evangelica libri decem ... omnia studio R. M. Latine facta, notis illustrata
, 1628.
- Apparatus ad Origines Ecclesiasticas
, Oxford, 1635.
- De Originibus Ecclesiasticis
, first part, London, 1636; second part, London, 1640.
- Articles of Inquiry put forth at his Primary Visitation as Bishop of Norwich
(unauthorised), Cambridge, 1638; (corrected by the bishop), London, 1638; new edition, Cambridge, 1841.
- Acts and Monuments of the Church
, London, 1642.
- Versio et Notae in Photii Epistolas
, London, 1651.
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"Montagu, Richard (MNTG594R)"
.
A Cambridge Alumni Database
. University of Cambridge.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
"Montagu, Richard"
.
Dictionary of National Biography
. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885?1900.
- ^
Immediate Addresse unto God alone, first delivered in a Sermon before his Majestie at Windsore, since reuised and inlarged to a just treatise of Invocation of Saints
, 1624.
- ^
Tom Webster (30 October 2003).
Godly Clergy in Early Stuart England: The Caroline Puritan Movement, 1620?1643
. Cambridge University Press. p. 10.
ISBN
978-0-521-52140-6
. Retrieved
6 July
2012
.
- ^
Macauley, John S. "Mountague, Richard".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/19031
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Kenneth Fincham, Nicholas Tyacke,
Altars Restored: The Changing Face of English Religious Worship, 1547-c.1700
(2007), p. 130.
- ^
Francis J. Bremer, Tom Webster,
Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia
(2006), p. 2231.
- ^
"Buckeridge, John"
.
Dictionary of National Biography
. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885?1900.
References
[
edit
]
Attribution
[
edit
]
- Lee, Sidney
, ed. (1894).
"Montagu, Richard"
.
Dictionary of National Biography
. Vol. 38. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Stephen, Leslie
, ed. (1886).
"Buckeridge, John"
.
Dictionary of National Biography
. Vol. 7. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 206, 207.
-
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911). "
Montagu, Richard
".
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 748.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Sheila Lambert,
Richard Montagu, Arminianism and Censorship
, Past and Present, No. 124 (Aug. 1989), pp. 36?68.
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