Editing Thomas Cartwright (theologian)

{{short description|English Puritan churchman (c. 1535 – 1603)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name        = Thomas Cartwright
| image       = Thomas Cartwright.jpg
| alt         = 
| caption     = Portrait by Gustavus Ellinthorpe Sintzenich,<br />at [[Mansfield College, Oxford]]
| birth_date  = c. 1535
| birth_place = [[Royston, Hertfordshire|Royston]], [[Hertfordshire]]
| death_date  = 27 December 1603
| death_place = [[Warwick]]
| nationality = English
| occupation  = Vice-chancellor of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]]
| known_for   = 
}}

'''Thomas Cartwright''' (c. 1535 – 27 December 1603) was an English [[Puritan]] preacher and theologian.

==Background and education==
Cartwright was probably born in [[Royston, Hertfordshire|Royston]], [[Hertfordshire]],<ref>Kingston, Alfred, A History of Royston, ed. (1906), p. 204</ref> and studied divinity at [[St John's College, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|id=CRTT547T|name=Cartwright, Thomas}}</ref> On the accession of Queen [[Mary I of England]] in 1553, he was forced to leave the university, and found occupation as clerk to a counsellor-at-law. On the accession of Queen [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]], five years later, he resumed his [[theology|theological]] studies, and was soon afterwards elected a fellow of St John's and later of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]].<ref name="eb"/>

==Theological stance==
In 1564, Cartwright opposed [[Thomas Preston (writer)|Thomas Preston]] in a theological disputation held on the occasion of Elizabeth's state visit, and in the following year brought attention to the Puritan attitude on church ceremonial and organization. He was popular in [[Ireland]] as chaplain to [[Adam Loftus (Archbishop)|Adam Loftus]], [[Archbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)|Archbishop of Armagh]] (1565–1567). In 1569, Cartwright was appointed [[Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity]] at Cambridge. In 1570 he delivered the "first public call for Presbyterianism" in the [[Church of England]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Winship |first=Michael P. |date=2018 |title=Hot Protestants: A History of Puritanism in England and America |location=New Haven |publisher=Yale University Press |page=40 |isbn=978-0-300-12628-0 }}</ref> In response [[John Whitgift]], on becoming vice-chancellor, deprived him of the post in December 1570, and—as master of Trinity—of his fellowship in September 1571.<ref name="eb" />

This was a result of the use which Cartwright had made of his position; in the sermons in which he made a public call for Presbyterianism he criticised the hierarchy and constitution of the Church of England, which he compared unfavourably with the primitive Christian organization. So keen was the struggle between him and Whitgift that the chancellor, [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|William Cecil]], had to intervene. After his deprivation by Whitgift, Cartwright visited [[Theodore Beza]] at [[Geneva]]. He returned to England in 1572, and might have become professor of [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] at Cambridge but for his expressed sympathy with the notorious "Admonition to the Parliament" by [[John Field (divine)|John Field]] and [[Thomas Wilcox]]. To escape arrest he again went abroad, and officiated as clergyman to the English residents at [[Antwerp]] and then at [[Middelburg, Zeeland|Middelburg]].<ref name="eb" />

==Later years==
In 1576 Cartwright visited and organized the [[Huguenot]] churches of the [[Channel Islands]], and after revising the Rhenish version of the [[New Testament]], again settled as pastor at Antwerp, declining the offer of a chair at the [[University of St Andrews]]. 
In 1585, he returned without permission to London, was imprisoned for a short time, and became master of the [[Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester|Earl of Leicester]]'s hospital at [[Warwick]], known as the [[Lord Leycester Hospital]] in the same year. 
In 1590, he was summoned before the court of high commission and imprisoned, and in 1591 he was once more committed to the [[Fleet prison]]. 
He was not treated harshly, and powerful influence soon secured his release. He visited [[Guernsey]] (1595–1598), and spent his closing years in honour and prosperity at Warwick, where he died 27 December 1603.<ref name="eb" />

==Qualities and character==
Cartwright was a man of much culture and originality, but said to be exceedingly impulsive. His views were distinctly [[Presbyterian]], and he stoutly opposed the [[Brownists]] or Independents. He never conceived of a separation between church and state, and may have refused to tolerate any [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|non-conformity]] with the reformed national Presbyterian church. However, it is believed that the Puritanism of the day owed its systematization and much of its force to him.<ref name="eb">{{EB1911|wstitle=Cartwright, Thomas|volume=5}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Andrew F. Pearson, ''Thomas Cartwright and Elizabethan Puritanism 1535–1603'' (Cambridge University Press 1966).
'''Attribution'''
*{{EB1911|wstitle=Cartwright, Thomas}}

==External links==
*{{prdl}}
* {{Librivox author |id=16657}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Thomas}}
[[Category:16th-century English Puritan ministers]]
[[Category:1530s births]]
[[Category:1603 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:English Calvinist and Reformed theologians]]
[[Category:People of the Elizabethan era]]
[[Category:People from Royston, Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:Inmates of Fleet Prison]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Lady Margaret's Professors of Divinity]]
[[Category:16th-century English theologians]]
[[Category:16th-century Anglican theologians]]
[[Category:17th-century Anglican theologians]]