William Whittingham (c. 1524–1579) was an English Puritan, a Marian exile, and a translator of the Geneva Bible. He was well connected to the circles around John Knox, Heinrich Bullinger and John Calvin, and firmly resisted the continuance of the English liturgy during the Marian exile. At last, he was ordained by the Presbyterians in Geneva. Upon his return to England, he became a well-known opponent to the rites of the Church of England. Through the patronage of the Earl of Leicester, he was collated to the Deanery of Durham, but in 1579 action was started to deprive him of all holy orders on account of his Presbyterian ordination. The process of deprivation was in under way when Whittingham died in 1579.
<nowiki/>'A Brieff Discours off the Troubles begonne at Franckford':
Traditionally considered written by William Whittingham in 1575, this text was printed in two editions in 1574 and 1575 by Michael Schirat of Heidelberg. This process was performed in the same type as Thomas Cartwright's A Full and Plaine Declaration of Ecclesiasticall Disicpline owt off thw word off God (1574) and his 1575 Second Replie; one copy of the original edition is dated mdlxxiv. It was reprinted at London in 1642, in vol. ii. of 'The Phenix,' 1708; again in 1846 (ed. M'Crie), and in vol. iv. of 'Knox's Works' (Bannatyne Club).
Whittingham's authorship of A Brieff Discours is contested with recent scholarship suggesting Thomas Wood as a more suitable alternative. Historiographical criticisms of Whittingham's position emerged from the reaction of older puritan leaders to proposed reforms presented in the Admonition of Parliament by John Field and Thomas Wilcox. These veteran reformers, including Whittingham, either openly condemned Field and Willcox's ideas or stopped actively participating in the English Reform movement entirely. Thus it has been questioned whether Whittingham would have readily associated himself with this Puritan party at the time A Brieff Discours was published. </blockquote>
Return to England
Whittingham took formal leave of the council at Geneva on 30 May 1560. In January 1561, he was appointed to attend Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford during his embassy to the French court. In the following year he became a chaplain to Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, a minister at Le Havre, then occupied by the English under Warwick. He won general praise; but William Cecil complained of his neglect of conformity to the English Book of Common Prayer. Owing to the support of Warwick and Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, another Puritan sympathizer, Whittingham was collated on 19 July 1563 to the deanery of Durham.
In keeping with his past, Whittingham took his duties seriously, holding two services a day, devoting time to his grammar school and song school, and church music. Before the outbreak of the Rising of the North in 1569 he unsuccessfully urged James Pilkington, the bishop of Durham, to put the city in a state of defence, but he was more successful at Newcastle, which resisted the rebels. In 1572, when Lord Burghley became lord treasurer, Whittingham was suggested, probably by Leicester, as his successor in the office of secretary. In 1577, Leicester also promised Whittingham aid in securing the see of York or Durham, both being vacant; but Whittingham did not press for preferment.
A Dean of Durham
In 1564, Whittingham wrote a long letter to Leicester protesting against the 'old popish apparel' and the historic associations with Massing-vestments and theology. He refused to wear the surplice and cope, and proceedings by Church officials were begun against him in 1566. Whittingham eventually yielded, taking Calvin's moderating advice not to leave the ministry for external and minor matters of order. In 1577, however, he incurred the enmity of Edwin Sandys, the new archbishop of York, by resisting his claim to visit Durham Cathedral. According to William Hutchinson a commission had been issued in 1576 or 1577 to examine complaints against him. But this proved ineffectual because the Earl of Huntingdon and Matthew Hutton sided with the dean against the third commissioner, Sandys. A fresh commission was issued on 14 May 1578. This included the three former commissioners and about a dozen others.
The articles against Whittingham are printed from the domestic state papers in the 'Camden Miscellany'; the charge that 'he is defamed of ' is entered as 'partly proved' and that of drunkenness as 'proved;' but the real allegation against Whittingham was the alleged inadequacy and invalidity of his ordination in Geneva. He admitted to not having been ordained according to the rites of the church of England. Archbishop Sandys further added that Whittingham had not even been validly ordained even according to Genevan standards, but had been elected preacher without the imposition of hands. Huntingdon repudiated the Archbishop and suggested a stay of the proceedings against Whittingham, arguing that 'it could not but be ill-taken of all the godly learned both at home and in all the reformed churches abroad, that we should allow of the popish massing priests in our ministry, and disallow of the ministers made in a reformed church'. However Archbishop Richard Bancroft, in <nowiki/>'Dangerous Positions'<nowiki/>, referred to him as 'afterward unworthily Dean of Durham', and ranks him with Goodman, Gilby, and other Puritans. So does Roger L'Estrange in his violent philippic, <nowiki/>'The Holy Cheat.
As the proceedings to deprive Whittingham of holy orders were proceeding, he was met with death, on 10 June 1579. He was buried in Durham Cathedral, where his tomb (ironically) was destroyed by the Presbyterian Scots in 1640. His will, dated 18 April 1579, is printed in 'Durham Wills and Inventories' (Surtees Soc. ii. 14–19).
Family
Whittingham's wife Catherine, daughter of Louis Jaqueman, was probably born not before 1535 and married to Whittingham on 15 November 1556. Her eldest son, Zachary, was baptised on 17 August 1557, and her eldest daughter, Susanna, on 11 December 1558; both died young. Whittingham was survived by two sons, Sir Timothy and Daniel, and four daughters.
References
Notes
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