Thomas Beccon

Thomas Beccon

Thomas Beccon or Becon (c. 1511–1567) was an English cleric and Protestant reformer from Norfolk.

Life

Beccon was born c.1511 in Norfolk, England. He entered the University of Cambridge in March 1526-27, probably St John's College.[1] He studied under Hugh Latimer and was ordained in 1533. In 1532 he was admitted a member of the community of the College of St. John the Evangelist, Rushworth - now Rushford.[2][3]

He was arrested for Protestant preaching and was forced to recant around 1540. He then began to write under the pen name of Theodore Basille. When Edward VI came to the throne in 1547, Beccon was made chaplain to the Lord Protector. Thomas Cranmer made him one of the Six Preachers of Canterbury, and a chaplain in Cranmer's own household.[4] He contributed to Cranmer's Homilies.

When Mary I of England came to the throne in 1553, Beccon was divested of his ecclesiastical positions. In August that year he was designated a seditious preacher and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He was released in March the following year and fled the country.[5] He went to Strasbourg and then to Frankfurt, and he taught at Marburg University around 1556–1559. When Elizabeth came to power, he returned to England and was made a canon of the Canterbury Cathedral in 1559.[6]

Works

Illustration from the 1844 edition of Becon's works

Beccon's writings were initially Lutheran. They became increasingly harsh and Zwinglian with time.

References

  1. ↑ Bailey, Derrick Sherwin (1952). Thomas Becon and the Reformation of the Church in England. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. p. 2.
  2. ↑ "Thomas Becon, Canon of Canterbury" (PDF). Kent Archaeology. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  3. ↑ "Colleges: Rushworth". British History Online. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "Lambeth Palace Library - Thomas Cranmer" (PDF). Lambeth Palace Library. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Bailey, Derrick Sherwin (1952). Thomas Becon and the Reformation of the Church in England. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd. pp. 77 – 79.
  6. ↑ British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol12/pp55-108. Retrieved 4 August 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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