, of Tewkesbury, another English writer, who flourished about the
, of Tewkesbury, another English writer, who
flourished about the year 1177, and died in 1201. He
wrote “De vita et exilio Thomas Cantuarensis,
” of the
life and banishment of Thomas a Becket, archbishop of
Canterbury.
Benedictus Petroburgensis, abbot of Peterborough, who died in 1200. 8. Alanus Teukesburiensis, abbot of Tewkesbury, who died about the same time. 9. Roger, a monk of
On the other hand, Mr. Berington, in his “History of
the reign of Henry If.
” has attempted a vindication of
Becket, in which he differs considerably from lord Lyttelton and other protestant historians, but for this w must
refer to the book itself. Few men have had more biographers, if reliance could be placed on them, than Becket,
but unfortunately the greater part of them were his panegyrists, and not his historians, and too much under the
influence of the monkish principles of their days, to deserve much credit. The following list, however, of his
biographers may afford some information to the curious
inquirer, taken from Leland, Bale, Pits, and others.
1. Herbert Bosenham, or Bosscham, or de Hoscham, who
was this archbishop’s secretary, and also present at the
slaughter of him. 2. Edward, a monk, of Canterbury, the
martyr’s most intimate friend. 3. Johannes Sarisburiensis,
who accompanied Becket in his exile, but never countenanced his behaviour towards the king, being as sharp a
writer against the encroachments of the papal see, as any
man of his time. 4. Bartholomseus Iscanus, or Exonensis,
bisiiop of Exeter, where he died in 118k 5. E. a monk
of Eveshatn, who dedicated his book, or wrote it by way
of epistle, to Henry, abbot of Croyland. 6. William Stephens, or Fitz-Stephen, a monk of Canterbury, and, for
at reason, usually called Gulielmus Cantuariensis. He
said to have written three several treatises of the life,
martyrdom, and miracles of St. Thomas Becket; which
are now in the Cotton library: But that, which there carries
his name, seems to have been penned by Johannes Carnotensis, who is the same person with Sarisburiensis above
mentioned, since, in the Quadripartite History, what we
have from him is often to be found, in the same words, in
the life there ascribed to Fitz-Stephen. 7. Benedictus
Petroburgensis, abbot of Peterborough, who died in 1200.
8. Alanus Teukesburiensis, abbot of Tewkesbury, who died
about the same time. 9. Roger, a monk of Croyland, who
lived about 1214. It is observed, that St. Thomas’s miracles were become so numerous in this writer’s time, that
he had matter for seven large volumes, in composing
of which he spent no less than fifteen years. 10. Stephen
Langton, a famous successor of Becket’s in the see of Canterbury, whose work on this subject is said be in the
library of Bene't college. 11. Alexander de Hales, so
called from the monastery of Hales in Gloucestershire,
where he was educated, one of the most eminent schoolmen of his age, and master to Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure, &c. 12. John Grandison, or Graunston, who died
in 1369. 13. Quadrilogus, or the author of a book, entitled “De vita et processu S.Thomae Cantuariensiset Martyris super Libertate Ecclesiastica.
” It is collected out of
four historians, who were contemporary and conversant
with Becket, viz. Herbert de Hoscham, Johannes Carnotensis, Gulielmus Canterburiensis, and Alanus Teukesburiensis, who are introduced as so many relaters of facts
interchangeably. This book was first printed at Paris in
1495, and is often quoted by our historians, in the reign
of Henry II. by the name of Quadripartita Historia.
14. Thomas Stapleton, the translator of Bede, in whose
book De tribus Thomis, or Of the three Thomas’s, our
saint makes as considerable a figure as either Thomas the
Apostle, or Thomas Aquinas. 15. Laurence Vade, or
Wade, a Benedictine monk of Canterbury, who lived and
died we know not when, or where; unless perhaps he be
the same person with 16. An anonymous writer of Becket’s
life, who appears to have been a monk of that church, and
whose book is said to be in the library at Lambeth. 17.
Richard James, nephew of Dr. Thomas James, some time
keeper of the Bodleian library; a very industrious and
eminent antiquary, who endeavoured to overthrow the
great design of all the above-mentioned authors, in his “Decanonizatio Thomse Cantuariensis et suorum,
” which, with
other manuscript pieces by the same hand, is in the public
library at Oxford. These are the principal writers of our
archbishop’s life besides whom, several other historians
have spoken largely of him as John Bromton, Matthew
Paris, Gervase, &c.
f John Dodd, esq. M. P. for Reading, lord Camden, then lord chancellor, presented him to the rectory of Tewkesbury. In conjunction with this, Mr. Evanson held the vicarage
, one of the most determined opponents of revealed religion in modern times, was born at
Warrington, Lancashire, April, 1731, and at first educated
by an uncle, who sent him to Emanuel college, Cambridge,
when in his fourteenth year. Here he took the degree of
Ib. A. in 1749, and that of M. A. in 1753. At a proper
age he was ordained, and for several years officiated as
curate to his uncle, who had the living of Mitcham in
Surrey. In 1768 he obtained the vicarage of South
Mirnms, near Barnet, and resided in the vicarage house
about two years, when, by the interest of John Dodd, esq.
M. P. for Reading, lord Camden, then lord chancellor,
presented him to the rectory of Tewkesbury. In conjunction with this, Mr. Evanson held the vicarage of Longton,
a village in Worcestershire, about five miles from Tewkesbury, for which he exchanged that of South Mimms.
While settled at Tewkesbury, he seems first to have inclined to those deviations from the opinions of his church,
which by degrees led him much farther than he could find
any to follow him, even among those who had hitherto
been most distinguished for their hostility to orthodoxy.
We are told that almost as soon as he began to entertain
doubts concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, he wrote a
letter to the archbishop of Canterbury, stating the rise of
his first scruples, with the grounds of them, and requesting
of his grace to favour him, by means of his secretary, with
such information as might assist in removing those doubts,
and enable him conscientiously to remain in his office as a
minister of the Gospel, &c. At what precise time, or to
what archbishop this letter was written, we have not been
informed, but no answer was returned, or could indeed
have been reasonably expected. Perhaps, however, it was
about the same time that Mr. Evanson began to take such
liberties in reading the Liturgy as suited his new opinions;
and for this, and some of those opinions delivered in the
pulpit, particularly in a sermon preached in 1771, on the
doctrine of the resurrection, a prosecution was commenced
against him, which, after a considerable expence incurred
on both sides, on account of some irregularity in the proceedings of the prosecutors, ended in a nonsuit. Seven
years after this Mr. Evanson published the sermon, with
an affidavit to its literal authenticity. To this he appears
to have been obliged by the publication, on the part of his
opponents, of “A narrative of the origin and progress of
the prosecution against the rev. Edward Evanson.
” This
last was followed by “A word at parting; being a few observations on a mutilated sermon, and an epistle dedicatory
to the worthy inhabitants of Tewkesbury, lately published
by Edward Evanson, M. A.: to which are added, the
arguraents of counsel in the court of delegates touching Mr.
Evanson’s prosecution.
” Both these were published by
the late Neast Havard, esq. town clerk of Tewkesbury,
who had been principally active in instituting the prosecution. In favour of Mr. Evanson, however, we are told that
it was only “a small party
” who found fault with his doctrines, and that the principal inhabitants of Tewkesbury
supported him by subscribing a very large sum to defray
his expences. The inhabitants of Longdon were still more
partial, for it is said that “they would willingly have kept
him among them, permitting him to make, as he had been
accustomed, any alterations in the church service that his
own views of the subject might have dictated:
” Mr. Evanson, however, does not appear to have set a very great
value on a licence of this description, and acted a more fair
and wise part in resigning both his livings. He then (in 3778) returned to Mitcham, and undertook the education
of a few pupils, the father of one of whom, col. EvelynJames Stuart, settled an annuity upon him, which was
regularly paid until his death.
a servitor of Magdalen-hall. In 1621 he took his degree of M. A. and being ordained, became minister of Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, where he was afterwards silenced
, an English divine of the puritan cast,
was born in Yorkshire in 1600, and in 1615 entered as a servitor of Magdalen-hall. In 1621 he took his degree of
M. A. and being ordained, became minister of Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, where he was afterwards silenced
by bishop Goodman for objecting to certain ceremonies of
the church. In 1641 this suspension was removed by one
of the parliamentary committees which took upon them to
new-model the church. In 1645 he became by the same
interest minister of St. Albans, and about four years afterwards that of St. Faith’s, under St. Paul’s, London. Although a puritan' in matters of the ceremonies and discipline, -he appears soon to have penetrated into the designs
of the reformers of his age, and opposed the civil war, aad
especiaMy the murder of the king, the barbarity of which
is said to have hastened his death. He died at his house
in Ivy-lane, Paternoster-row, in February 1649. Wood
gives a long list of sermons and tracts published by this
author, against the baptists and independents; one of them
is entitled “An exercise, wherein the evil of Health-drinking is by clear and solid arguments convinced,
” AstrologoMastix; or, the vanity of judicial astrology,
”