John Field
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John Field (abt. 1545 - bef. 1588)

Reverend John Field aka Feld, Felde, Feilde, Fyelde
Born about in Englandmap
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of — married before 1570 in Englandmap
Descendants descendants
Father of , , , , , , and
Died before before about age 43 in St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, Englandmap
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Easily Confused:
  • John Field (abt.1520-bef.1587) Astronomer of East Ardsley, Yorkshire
  • John Field (abt.1545-bef.1588) Puritan preacher of St Giles Cripplegate, London
See the text for details.

The England Project is manager for both profiles to prevent them being merged.

Contents

Biography

Birth and early years

John Field's date and place of birth, and his parents are unknown.

Incorrect Lineage: Frederick Clifton Pierce's Field Genealogy Volume I (1901) discusses the Feld family of East Ardesley, Sowerby and Bradford (all in Yorkshire) but does not link John Field of Cripplegate to this family.
Field Genealogy Volume II (1901) claims that John Field of Cripplegate was born about 1519 near "Bradford, England", the son of William (surname variant not given) and another six generational names back (all unsourced), The vignette for John is unsourced and contains multiple errors which are discussed in the Research Notes below. [1]

Incorrect Lineage: Cutter's Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts (1918) places John as an ancestor of the immigrant Robert Field and also claims John's birth was in 1519 in Bradford, Yorkshire. This lineage is unsourced and the vignette for John appears to be a direct copy from Field Genealogy. It is also discussed below in the Research Notes. [2]

Probably correct birthdate: Collinson suggests a birth year of about 1545 (location and parents unknown) supported by an ordination certificate issued by Bishop Grindal, the Bishop of London on 25 March 1566 to a John Field aged 21, a Bachelor of Arts from Christchurch. He also provides evidence from Field's own writings that he was studying in Oxford in the 1560s. Field had also secured the patronage of Ambrose Dudley the third Earl of Warwick in 1565. [3]

Field returned to Oxford in 1567 and started his correspondence with John Foxe the chronicler of the Maryan Martyrs. In spring of 1568 he returned to London, and after a spell of preaching at the Holy Trinity Minories, he became curate of St Giles Cripplegate. [3]

Marriage and Children

John married sometime before May 1570 when his first known child Dorcas was baptised. The marriage does not appear to have taken place at St Giles Cripplegate as there is no entry in the parish register. In John's will of February 1587/8 he names his "loving wife Joane". Whether Joane was his only wife and the mother of all of his children is unknown, but there is no burial of a woman who may have been a previous wife in the register of St Giles Cripplegate.

The following children were baptised at St Giles Cripplegate:

  1. Dorcas Feld baptised on 7 May 1570: Dorcas ffeld ye daught[e]r of John ffeld minister was christened the 7 of Maye [1570] [4]
  2. John Felde baptised on 4 January 1572/3: John ffelde the sone of John ffelde minister was christened the iiij of January [1572] [5]
  3. Theophilus Felde baptised on 22 January 1574/5: Theophilus ffelde the sone of John ffelde was christened the xxii day of January [1574] [6] [7]
  4. Jonathan Fylde, baptised 13 May 1577: Jonathan ffylde the son of John ffylde minister was christened the xiij of Maye [1577] [8]
  5. Nathanyell Fyelde baptised 15 February 1578/9: Nathanyell the sonne of John ffyelde 15 [February 1578] [9] and buried 26 July 1580: Nathanyell the sonne of John ffyelde 26 [July 1580] [10]
  6. Nathaniell Fyelde baptised 23 July 1581: Nathaniell the sonne of John ffyelde 23 [July 1581] [11]
  7. Elizabeth Fyelde, baptised 2 Feb 1583/4: Elizabeth the daughter of John ffyelde Clarke 2 [February 1583] [12]
  8. Nathan Fielde or Fyelde (two concurrent baptism registers with different spellings), baptised 17 October 1587: Christenings in October 1587: Nathan Fielde sonne of John Fielde preacher the 17 day [13]

Puritanism and Church life

John Field was a leader in the early Elizabethan puritan movement[14] of England and co-author of the Admonition to Parliament, aka Puritan manifesto[15], whose goal was to “restore the ‘purity’ of New Testament worship in the Church of England and eliminate the remaining Roman Catholic elements and practices from the Church of England. Reflecting wide Presbyterian influence among Puritans, the admonition advocated greater direct reliance on the authority of the Scriptures and also church government by ministers and elders rather than by a higher order of clergy (bishops).” [16]

After the publication of An Admonition to Parliament [16], Field and Wilcox were imprisoned at Newgate prison on 7 July 1572, and sentenced on 2 October to one year in prison for breach of the Uniformity Act. [17] [18] [19] Joane was pregnant with their second child before the trial, and their son was born while John was imprisoned.

John was also barred from preaching from 1571 to 1579, although he was still accorded the honorific of "minister" or "preacher" in the parish register when his children were baptised.

John was described as a "famous preacher and minster of Wandsworth" (Surrey, now an area of London south of the Thames) by Anthony Wood in "Athenae Oxonienses" (1691)[20]

Death and Will

John died before 26 March 1588 (the second day of the year Old Style) and was buried at the church of St Giles Cripplegate: [21]

Burialls in Marche 1588
John ffield preacher was buryed the 26 day

John was aged about 43 years old when he died. His will, proved on 1 June 1588, left all his estate to his "loving wife Joane" and for her to care for all their children. No children are individually named in the will. John's son Theophilus appeared before the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 9 January 1600/01 to take over administration of his father's will and estate after the death of his mother Joane. This is recorded as a margin note in the will register. [22][17]

The witnesses to the will were:
F Edgeton [or Edyrton]
Stephen Burdwell [or Bredwell]
Andrew Palmer
W Charke

Joane was left as a widow with up to seven children to provide for. She was possibly the same "Joane ffeylde" who married Richard Sparke at St Giles Cripplegate on 26 February 1589/90. This marriage was probably by banns as the infrequent use of Marriage Licence was noted in the margin. The register does not note the condition of the parties. [23]

Richard Sparke and Joane ffeylde 26 [February 1589]

Of John and Joane's children, only four are known to have definitely survived to adulthood:

  • Dorcas married Edward Ryce and was administrator for her brother Nathan's estate.
  • Theophilus followed his father as a clergyman and ended his life as Bishop of Hereford.
  • Nathaniel became a printer.
  • Nathan became an actor.

Publications

  • A View of Popish Abuses Yet Remaining in the English Church [24] [25]
  • Admonition to Parliament (also known as the "Puritan Manifesto) [15] 1572[26]
  • Prayers and Meditations for the use of private Families, 1581
  • A caveat for Parsons Howlet ... necessarie for him and all the rest of that darke broode and uncleane cage of papistes, who with their untimely bookes, seeke the discredite of the trueth, and the disquiet of this Churche of England, 1581 [27]
  • A godly exhortation by occasion of the late judgement of God: showed at Paris-Garden, 13 Jan 1583 [28]
  • Some of the Maprelate tracts [29]

Research Notes

Birth and parentage
Both Pierce's Field Genealogy Vol. II [1] and Cutter's Genealogical and personal memoirs... [2] place this John Field as the son of William Feld of Bradford, Yorkshire born 1519. If so, then John would have been in his forties when he studied at Oxford University in the 1560s.
He would have been aged 47 in 1566, so he could not have been the 21 year old John Field ordained by the Bishop of London in that year.
It also would mean that John was having all his children in his sixties and seventies.
If John was descended from the Felds of Bradford, there would have to be another generation between William Feld and John to make John of the appropriate age.

The vignette of John's life in Pierce and Cutter also:

  • does not mention four of John's children (Dorcas 1570, Jonathan 1577, the first Nathaniel 1579 and Elizabeth 1584),
  • claims that the Nathaniel born 1581 died young,
  • names the last son as Nathaniel rather than Nathan,
  • and quotes the year of birth for son John (the next link in the Cutter lineage) as 1579 rather than 1573.

Pierce's vignette of John's son Theophilus also contains factual errors which include omitting the date of his marriage (17 February 1612/3) [30] and thus making all four of his named children born at least 10 years before he was married.

Nathan Fielde in: Memoirs of the Principal Actors in the Plays of Shakespeare J. Payne Collier. Pages 206 et seq. Pub. 1846 The Shakespeare Society, London. Full text on Google books This chapter confuses Nathan with his older brother Nathaniel, the second of two boys to bear that name (the first died young). See Nathan's profile for a discussion regarding the confusion of the two men.

Warren James Field's Some Field Family Journeys: Selected Descendants of Roger Del Feld again copies the vignette on John Field's life originally printed in Pierce's Field Genealogy. [31]

The entry for the Clergy of the Church of England database for St Giles Cripplegate, City of London does not start until 1601. [32]

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Frederick Clifton Pierce. Field Genealogy: Being the Record of All the Field Family in America, Whose Ancestors Were in this Country Prior to 1700. Emigrant Ancestors Located in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Virginia. All Descendants of the Fields of England, Whose Ancestor, Hurbutus de la Field, was from Alsace-Lorraine. W. B. Conkey; 1901. Vol. 1, Haithi Trust full text p. 70 and Vol. 2, p. 1056 onwards FamilySearch.org full text image 568.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 John Field in: Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Boston and eastern Massachusetts v. 1 page 197 Ed. William Richard Cutter Pub 1908 New York, USA. Full text on FamilySearch.org books image 222 Accessed 16 January 2021. Another copy is on Google books page 197
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 John Field in: Godly People Patrick Collinson. Pages 337 onwards. Pub. A&C Black; 1 July 1982. London ISBN 978-0-8264-3647-4. Google Books Accessed 16 January 2021. The ordination certificate is cited as "Ordinations register , Bishop of London 1550-77, London Guildhall library MS 9535/1 f. 124b."
  4. ↑ Dorcas Feld baptism in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/001/MS06418 Ancestry permalink Free Ancestry sharing image Accessed 15 January 2021
  5. ↑ John Felde baptism in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/001/MS06418 Ancestry Permalink Free Ancestry sharing image Accessed 15 January 2021
  6. ↑ Theophilus Felde baptism in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/001/MS06418
  7. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JWQB-BYW : 11 February 2018, John Fyelde in entry for Theophilus Fyelde, 22 Jan 1574); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 380,199.
  8. ↑ Jonathan Fylde baptism in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/001/MS06418 Ancestry Permalink Free Ancestry sharing image Accessed 15 January 2021
  9. ↑ Nathanyell Fyelde baptism in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/002/MS06419/001Ancestry permalink Free Ancestry sharing image Accessed 16 January 2021
  10. ↑ Nathanyell Fyelde burial in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/002/MS06419/001Ancestry permalink Free Ancestry sharing image Accessed 16 January 2021
  11. ↑ Nathaniell Fyelde baptism in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/002/MS06419/001Ancestry permalink Free Ancestry sharing image Accessed 16 January 2021
  12. ↑ Elizabeth Fyelde baptism in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, City of London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/002/MS06419/001Ancestry permalink Free Ancestry sharing image Accessed 16 January 2021
  13. ↑ Nathan Fielde baptism in: Parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/001/MS06418 Ancestry.co.uk Free Image on Ancestry Accessed 2 December 2019
  14. ↑ Elizabethan government and society: essays presented to Sir John Neale. University of London, Athlone Press; 1961.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Puritan Manifestoes: A Study of the Origin of the Puritan Revolt with a Reprint of the Admonition to the Parliament and Kindred Documents, 1572. B. Franklin; 1 January 1907. ISBN 978-0-8337-4119-6.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Admonition-to-Parliament
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, & Company; 1901. p. 205–.
  18. ↑ Reform and Conflict: From the Medieval World to the Wars of Religion, AD 1350-1648 Volume Four. Monarch Books; 18 October 2012. ISBN 978-0-85721-394-5. p. 244–.
  19. ↑ Taylor, Henry Osborn. 1962. Thought and expression in the sixteenth century. Vol. II. New York: Collier. p. 140
  20. ↑ Daniel Lysons, 'Wandsworth', in The Environs of London: Volume 1, County of Surrey (London, 1792), pp. 502-518. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-environs/vol1/pp502-518 [accessed 17 January 2021]. quoting Anthony Wood "Athenae Oxonienses" (1691): an Exact History of all the Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the University of Oxford from 1500 to 1690,
  21. ↑ Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/001/MS06418
  22. ↑ The National Archives; Kew, England; Prerogative Court of Canterbury and Related Probate Jurisdictions: Will Registers; Class: PROB 11; Piece: 72 Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
  23. ↑ Joane Feylde marriage in: parish register of St Giles Cripplegate, London, England. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P69/GIS/A/002/MS06419/001 Ancestry Permalink Free Ancestry Sharing image accessed 16 January 2021
  24. ↑ Great Britain, John Parkhurst, Edmund Grindal, Théodore de Bèze, Rudolf Gwalther, John Field, and T. W. 1572. [An Admonition to the Parliament: Sig. A1 recto, prefatory epistle.] To the godly Readers, Grace, and peace from God. zc. - [Sig. A2 recto, line 4:] [rev. D]An Admonition to the Parliament. - [sig. A8 recto:] A view of Popishe abuses yet remayning in the Englishe Church, for the which Godly Ministers haue refused to subscribe. - [sig. C1 verso, epistle:] To the Christian Reader, health in the Lorde. - [sig. C3 verso, line 20, epistle:] To the reuerend Father in Christ. D.I.P. the moste vigilant B. of N. [i.e. John Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich] and his louing Father. - [sig. C4 verso, line 38, subscription:] at Tigurin, the. II. of September. Anno. 1566. Rodolphe Gualter, Minister of the Churche of God at Tigurin.
  25. ↑ Wikipedia contributors, "A View of Popish Abuses Yet Remaining in the English Church," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_View_of_Popish_Abuses_Yet_Remaining_in_the_English_Church&oldid=767179389 (accessed March 14, 2017).
  26. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Admonition-to-Parliament
  27. ↑ A caveat for Parsons Howlet ... necessarie for him and all the rest of that darke broode and uncleane cage of papistes, who with their untimely bookes, seeke the discredite of the trueth, and the disquiet of this Churche of England. 1581. p. 23–.
  28. ↑ A godly exhortation by occasion of the late judgement of God: showed at Paris-garden, the thirteenth day of January. Johnson Reprint Corp.; 1972.
  29. ↑ http://people.umass.edu/marprelate/johnfield.html
  30. ↑ Marriage of Theophilus Field and Alisia Playfere 17 February 1612 entered on the return for 1611 in: Bishop's transcripts for St. Botolph's Church, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G96D-9W68?i=244 image 245. Accessed 16 January 2021)
  31. ↑ Warren James Field. Some Field Family Journeys. Xlibris Corporation; 14 June 2011. ISBN 978-1-4628-7146-9. p. 82–.
  32. ↑ St Giles Cripplegate entry in The Clergy of the Church of England (CCEd) database online CCEd Location ID: 11817 https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/locations/index.jsp Accessed 15 January 2021

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Images: 3
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Field, John burial entry


Comments: 8

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Fitz-Henry-9 Jo Fitz-Henry
I have already posted in G2G. Unless anyone can provide supporting evidence I will disconnect John from his current father William, change his birth location to "England" and birth year to about 1545.

Edit: corrected birth year

posted by Jo Fitz-Henry
edited by Jo Fitz-Henry
Fitz-Henry-9 Jo Fitz-Henry
I plan to update this profile on behalf of the England Project. If you have any additional information about John's life please either leave it in a comment here or as a question on G2G.

Many thanks, Jo, England Project Managed Profiles team

posted by Jo Fitz-Henry
Kerry Larson
Nice work on finding and updating information about his family.
posted by Kerry Larson
Fitz-Henry-9 Jo Fitz-Henry
As per my message of 6 December, I have moved Theophilus Field to be a son of this John Field-1908.
posted by Jo Fitz-Henry
Fitz-Henry-9 Jo Fitz-Henry
Kerry, do you have any objections to me moving the profile for son Theophilus from the profile of John Field the Astronomer and attaching him to this John Field. I have already started a fledgling profile for youngest son Nathan.
posted by Jo Fitz-Henry
Fitz-Henry-9 Jo Fitz-Henry
Hi Kerry

I have transcribed the will of the Rev John Field/Feild to a FSP, and put a summary in Research notes. It proves that Theophilus was his son.

posted by Jo Fitz-Henry
Fields-4202 Travis Fields
Since his youngest son Nathan Field was said to have taken Shakespeare's place with the King's men, it would be interesting to see him added to the sons of John Field, if his info can be found
posted by Travis Fields
Carmichael-1815 Bill Carmichael II
Field-1908 and Field-3199 appear to represent the same person because: Data match
posted by Bill Carmichael II

Rejected matches › John Field (abt.1520-bef.1587)

F  >  Field  >  John Field

Categories: Frederick Clifton Pierce Fraud | St Giles Without Cripplegate Church, City of London | Puritans