Book Description

Full biographical accounts of the members of St John's College Oxford give much new evidence for academic life of the period. This volume comprises a register of all who were academically of St John's College, Oxford, from its foundation in 1555 until 1660, as well as of a number of men otherwise associated with it. It includes many figures of nationalimportance, among them William Laud, William Juxon, Edmund Campion, and Bulstrode Whitelocke, scholarly translators of the Bible, five future earls, and many Members of Parliament. The biographies, based on a very wide rangeof sources, amplify and correct existing work and identify many previously unknown St John's men. The introduction draws on this new research to provide a richer and more nuanced portrayal of an early-modern Oxford college than any so far attempted - and, since the College was both a Catholic Marian foundation and the institution in which Laud spend much of his life, makes a significant contribution to an understanding of the ramifications of early modernEnglish religious loyalties. The College's involvement in early academic drama in Oxford also receives special attention, as do its many Shakespearean connections (both family and Warwickshire affinity). An extensive Glossary provides essential supplementary guidance to the workings of the early-modern academic world. Andrew Hegarty gained his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford; his research is on the history of European universities in theearly modern period.