John Rainolds

Most Catholics under Elizabeth were merely fined for "recusancy," but those actively seeking to convert others, and suspected of supporting the claims of Mary Queen of Scots to the throne, were considered traitors. One such was John Hart. Educated in England, Hart had embraced the Catholic cause and withdrawn to Douay on the continent, a stronghold of English Catholics. There he attended university and became a priest. Landing in England in 1580, he was almost immediately arrested as a subversive, and he spent many months in prison. Nearly executed in 1581, he temporarily betrayed a willingness to abandon his faith, although he subsequently stiffened, having been strengthened, it is said, by a visit from his mother. In 1582, the queen's secretary Walsingham sent Hart to Oxford for a debate, which lasted several weeks, with an Oxford don, John Rainolds. Their arguments were recorded and, with the cooperation of both, published in debate form in this volume. The title page tells us that therein are handled "sundrie points, of the sufficiencie and right expounding of the Scriptures, the ministerie of the Church, the function of Priesthood, the sacrifice of the Masse, with other controversies of religion: but chiefly and purposely the point of Church-government, opened in the branches of Christes supreme soueraintie, of Peters pretended, the Popes usurped, the Princes lawfull Supremacie." It is clear from this that Rainolds, an advocate of the low church position among Anglicans, had the final word. Hart, who became a Jesuit in prison, remained firm, was banished, and died in Poland in 1586. This record of their debate was republished a number of times (NUC lists five printings in English and one in Latin). A significant figure in the academic world during the last quarter of the 16th century, Rainolds, or Reynolds (1549-1607), rose to be president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Dean of Lincoln Cathedral. He is perhaps best known as the most important member of the team of translators employed by King James to produce the Authorized Version of the Bible.… (mehr)