Anglican Authors Part 1 1530-1650

Anthologies

Elizabethan Homilies

Edwardian and Elizabethan Homilies from the Anglican Library. The homilies were published unsigned. For possible authors of the homilies, see this article discussing the authorship of the Elizabethan Homilies.

Hugh Latimer (1485-1555)

Biographical Information
  • Biography of Latimer by George M. Ella. Latimer's work in the English Reformation emphasized. Tends to be very pro-Reformation, anti-Rome in tone.
  • Brief biography from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 vols. (1907-21). Volume III. Renaissance and Reformation. The emphasis is on Latimer's as a preacher and his sermons as a literary form.
  • Biographical data and list of published works.
Primary Works
  • Latimer works on Anglican Library site. Includes a biography and links to "Sermons on the Card and Other Discourses" and "Thou Canst Make Me Clean"
Secondary Works
  • Article by Ian Paisley with a sermon extract from "Sermon of the Plough."

Myles Coverdale (1488-1568)

Biographical Information
  • Biography From a site devoted to lives of the Bishops of Exeter.

Primary

Writings and Translations

 Other

  • Bibliography on Coverdale's Bible translation.
  • Pictures of several old editions of Bibles including 2 pictures of pages from a first edition Coverdale Bible. The text can easily be read from the enlarged pictures.

Thomas Cranmer (c.1489-1536)

Biographical Information
  • Life and work Scanned page from the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Vol. III.Includes a helpful bibliography of Cranmer's works and full-length biographies.
Primary Works
  • Letter on Henry VIII's divorce, 1533, from an 1825 collection of letters important in English history, with updated spellings.
  • Necessary Doctrine. Extracts from his annotations to The King's Book (1538). From the Parker Society edition of Cranmer's works published in 1840.
Secondary Works
Other
  • Book of Common Prayer. Site contains the ability to download the text of the BCP, compare editions, and examine the development of the BCP. Site maintained by Lynda M. Howell
  • Several editions of the Book of Common Prayer, including 1549, 1552, and 1559 editions and American editions.

William Tyndale (c.1494-1536)

Biographical Information
  • Brief biography from alumni site of Tyndale's school. Includes portrait.
  • Part 1 and Part 2 of a longer treatment of Tyndale's life and work by Jules Grisham.
Primary Works
Other

Thomas Becon (1512-1567)

Primary Works
  • The Two Churches. A work written before 1547. Text slightly edited for clarity based on The Early Works of Thomas Becon published in 1843.
Other
  • Bibliography of English preaching including Becon as well as other authors listed here.

Nicholas Ridley (c.1500-1555)

Biographical Information
Other

Richard Davies (c.1501-1581)

Davies was from North Wales, and was educated at Oxford.  He developed reformed sympathies at Oxford, and so after a brief time as a parish priest under Edward VI, fled to Frankfurt during Mary’s reign.  On his return, he was made first Bishop of St. Asaph and then St. Davids.  He collaborated with William Salesbury on the translation of the New Testament into Welsh. His preface to the Welsh New Testament set guidelines for reading the Bible, as well as setting out a theory of the antiquity of the church in Britain. 

John Bradford (c.1510-1555)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • Writings. From CCEL. Includes letters, sermons, tracts, and daily prayers. There is also a biographical link from this page.

Edwin Sandys (c.1516-1588)

Biographical Information
  • Biography. Includes genealogical links.
  • Chronology of Sandys' life and links to other sites of interest.
Other

Archives

Anne Askew (1521-1546)

Biographical Information
  • Brief biography of Anne Askew. Includes a woodcut depicting her death and a quote from her Examinations.
  • Account of Askew's death as published by Foxe. With modern English.
Primary Works
Secondary Works
  • Article from a site devoted to Baptist doctrine.

John Jewel (1522-1571)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • Apology of the Church of England partially available from Project Canterbury.
  • Challenge. Issued at St. Paul's Cross. No context is given to this piece; it is posted at an evangelical Anglican site.
  • Essay on Scripture. With an introduction, and a brief biography with bibliography at the end of the essay.
Secondary Works

Henry Bull (c.1530-1575)

Bull was a fellow of Magdelene College, Oxford during the reign of Edward VI. He published Christian Prayers and Meditations in 1566. This work included prayers for daily use drawn from other writers and an extended treatise on the theology of prayer.

John Woolton (1535-1593/4)

Biographical Information
  • Biography. From the Exeter Cathedral site. Woolton was Bishop of Exeter.

Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • Selected poetry with biographical information and suggested standard print version of Spenser's works.
  • Works. Poetry, letters, and an excerpt from A View of the Present State of Ireland, 1596.
Secondary Works
  • Essays on Spenser's work, some are student essays.
Other
  • The Edmund Spenser Home Page. Hosted at Cambridge, a wide variety of pages and links related to Spenser.
  • Spenser On-Line. A searchable archive based on two journals that deal withSpenser. Hosted at St. Louis University.

Mary Sidney Herbert (1561-1621)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • Works. Includes psalms.
Secondary Works
Other

Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
Secondary Works
Other
  • Sir Philip Sidney Online. A searchable database of published scholarship on Sidney with abstracts of articles and books included. Includes a comprehensive bibliography of all editions of Sidney's works. Extremely valuable sitefor work on Sidney.
  • Other links to a variety of information about Sidney from Luminarium.
  • The Sidney Home Page. Hosted by Cambridge. A wealth of information and links related to Sidney.

Fulke Greville (1554-1628)

Biographical Information
  • Brief biography. Focus on literary work.
  • Biography from The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. With a discussion of Fulke's literary works.
Primary Works
Secondary Works

George Gascoigne (1542-1566)

Biographical Information
  • Biography with a critical discussion of his works. Includes bibliography.
Primary Works

Sir Walter Raleigh (or Ralegh) (c.1552-1618)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
Secondary Works
Other

Sir John Davies (1569-1626)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • Works.  List of works with links to full text.
Secondary Works

Richard Hooker (c.1554-1600)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • Experts from Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity(1593).
  • Sermon. "A Learned Discourse of Justification, Works, and how the Foundation of Faith is Overthrown" (c.1585). With an introduction by James Kiefer.
  • Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie. John Keble's edition. With other links to articles on Hooker.
Secondary Works

Lancelot Andrews (1555-1626)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
Secondary Works
  • An essay on Andrewes' Private Devotions.
  • Essays on Andrewes' life and work.
  • Bibliography including primary and secondary sources.

William Perkins (1558-1602)

Biographical Information
Primary Works

John Norden (active c.1591)

John Norden was a layman who published an essay on holy living in 1591, which was reprinted in 1596. There was a topographer called John Norden active around the same time. It is not clear whether these are the same person or not.

Richard Field (1561-1616)

Field served both Elizabeth I and James I as Chaplain. He became Dean of Gloucester in 1609. His major work was Of the Church Five Bookes, published 1606-1610. While this work is widely quoted in many online essays, no one essay treats this work as a unit, nor Field as a theologian. In web searches, be careful not to confuse Richard Field, theologian and priest, with Richard Field, publisher, who was associated with Shakespeare.

Biographical Information

Biography" from old DNB.

 

Lewis Bayly (1565-1631)

Biographical Information
  • Biography with a slightly different birth date, but it appears to be the correct Lewis Bayly. Part of a family tree.
Primary Works
Secondary Works

John Donne (1572-1631)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
Secondary Works
Other
  • Additional Resources on Donne. Includes further biographical material, surveys, notes, bibliographical material, analyses, and commentaries.

William Laud (1573-1645)

Biographical Information
Primary Works

Rhys Prichard (or Pritchard) (1579-1644)

Biographical Information

Biography. From Welsh Biography Online.

Primary Works

Poetry.

Secondary

Article on Welsh poetry in the Renaissance includes a paragraph about Prichard's work. It gives a literary setting for this work.

James Ussher (1581-1656)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
Secondary Works
  • Article on Ussher's dating of the World. Includes an excerpt from The Annals of the World.
  • Article on Ussher's dating of the World.
Other
  • Bibliography. Complete list of primary and secondary sources. Most primary sources listed in Latin editions.

William Forbes (1585-1634)

Biographical Information

Forbes was from Aberdeen, and served as a minister there after 1616 except for a short time in Edinburgh. Charles I created the see of Edinburgh for Forbes in 1633, but Forbes did not survive long after he assumed office. His major work, an essay on the doctrine of justification, Considerationes Modestae, was assembled from his notes and published posthumously.

Secondary Works

"Revising the Gospel."Peter J. Leithart cites Forbes in this article, which also cites several other authors of this period, and deals with the 'taming' of the gospel to make it socially acceptable.

Francis Quarles (1592-1644)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
Secondary Works
  • Article on emblem poetry, especially in the work of Quarles.

Nicholas Ferrar/Little Gidding Community (1592-1637)

Biographical Information
Secondary Works
  • Article with biographical information and a discussion of the literary works of the community.
  • Information on Ferrer from St. John's Church, Little Gidding, Cambridgeshire.
Other

Henry King (1592-1669)

Biographical Information

Henry King was the son of John King, Bishop of London. He was appointed Archdeacon of Colchester, then Canon of Christ Church, Oxford, and finally Bishop of Chichester. King published sermons as well as poetry.

Primary Works

Other

Archives. From the NRA.

George Herbert (1593-1633)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • Works
  • Works from Christian Classics Ethereal Library. With the ability to search the texts.
  • Selected Poetry. With biographical data.
Secondary Works
  • Articles and Essays on Herbert and his work.
Other
  • Other links to a variety of sites of interest about George Herbert.

Thomas Browne (1605-1682)

Biographical Information
Primary Works
  • ReligioMedici (1643).
  • Works by and about Browne. Maintained by James Eason, University of Chicago.
Other

Henry Vaughan (1621-1696)

Biographical Information
  • Biography.Emphasis on literary work.
  • Timeline of Vaughan's life and other relevant current events.
Primary Works
Secondary Works
Other