John Bastwick was an English Puritan

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...

 physician and controversial writer.

Life

He was born at Writtle

Writtle

The village of Writtle lies a mile west of Chelmsford, Essex, England, it has a traditional village green, complete with duck pond and a Norman church; and was once described as: 'one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishing variety of ancient cottages'...

, 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...

. He entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

, on 19 May 1614, but remained there only a very short time, and left the university without a degree. 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

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

. Back in England in 1623, he settled at Colchester

Colchester

Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

, where he practised as a physician.

He was a Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 stylist, and began a career as controversial with Latin works. In 1634 he published in the Netherland 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

Presbyterianism

Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...

. The latter came under the notice of 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...

. He had Bastwick brought before the Court of High Commission

Court of High Commission

The Court of High Commission was the supreme ecclesiastic court in England. It was instituted by the crown during the Reformation and finally dissolved by parliament in 1641...

, 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

Gatehouse Prison

Gatehouse Prison was a prison in Westminster, built in 1370 as the gatehouse of Westminster Abbey and first used as a prison by the Abbot, a powerful churchman who held considerable power over the precincts and sanctuary...

 until he should recant. In 1636 Bastwick published Πράξεις τῶν επισκόπων, 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 bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s were denounced as the enemies of God and the tail of The Beast

The Beast (Bible)

The Beast of Revelation, may refer to two beasts in the apocalyptic visions by John of Patmos, as written in the Book of Revelation. The first beast comes from "out of the sea". The second beast comes from "out of the earth" and directs all peoples of the earth to worship the first. This first...

. For this publication he was summoned before the Star Chamber

Star Chamber

The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. It was made up of Privy Counsellors, as well as common-law judges and supplemented the activities of the common-law and equity courts in both civil and criminal matters...

. The request for a work in English came from the publisher John Wharton. The Letanie was printed by a Dutch press for John Lilburne

John Lilburne

John Lilburne , also known as Freeborn John, was an English political Leveller before, during and after English Civil Wars 1642-1650. He coined the term "freeborn rights", defining them as rights with which every human being is born, as opposed to rights bestowed by government or human law...

, 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.

Similar proceedings were taken against William Prynne

William Prynne

William Prynne was an English lawyer, author, polemicist, and political figure. He was a prominent Puritan opponent of the church policy of the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. Although his views on church polity were presbyterian, he became known in the 1640s as an Erastian, arguing for...

 for his Histrio-Mastix, and Henry Burton

Henry Burton (Puritan)

Henry Burton , was an English puritan. Along with John Bastwick and William Prynne, Burton's ears were cut off in 1637 for writing pamphlets attacking the views of Archbishop Laud.-Early life:...

 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

Cropping (punishment)

Cropping is the removal of a person's ears as an act of physical punishment. It was performed along with the pillorying or immobilisation in the stocks, and sometimes alongside punishments such as branding or fines...

 in the pillory

Pillory

The pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...

, to pay a fine of £5,000, and to be imprisoned for life.

Bastwick was afterwards moved to Star Castle, Isles of Scilly

Star Castle, Isles of Scilly

Star Castle is a fortress on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, built in 1593 by Francis Godolphin.It is in the shape of an eight-pointed star and features on the flag of the Council of the Isles of Scilly.It is now used as a hotel.- External links :*...

. From there in November 1640 he was released by order of the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

, 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

First English Civil War

The First English Civil War began the series of three wars known as the English Civil War . "The English Civil War" was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations that took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, and includes the Second English Civil War and...

 broke out, Bastwick was a captain of the Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 trained bands, and on 22 July he was taken prisoner by the royalists at Leicester, and sent prisoner to York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

.

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 Congregationalist

Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

s. 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

Levellers

The Levellers were a political movement during the English Civil Wars which emphasised popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law, and religious tolerance, all of which were expressed in the manifesto "Agreement of the People". They came to prominence at the end of the First...

. 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

Speaker of the British House of Commons

The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the United Kingdom's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is John Bercow, who was elected on 22 June 2009, following the resignation of Michael Martin...

; he was in custody until October. In 1648 Bastwick published two bitter tracts against the Independents, and in defence of himself against Lilburne. He died in 1654. Richard Smith, in his 'Obituary,' gives 6 October 1654 as the date of his burial.