On February 4, it was officially confirmed at a press conference. The skeleton unearthed from beneath a council car park in Leicester was that of Richard III, the last Plantagenet king of England. This discovery has caused quite a stir in the national media, but in Leicestershire, where I live, excitement has reached fever-pitch. Ever since the bones were exhumed last September, speculation had been intense. Was it him or not?
At the Battlefield Centre, located close to the site of Richard’s death in battle on Bosworth Field in August 1485, extra talks, walks and events have been organised to cash in on this renewed interest. The Richard III Society, a group of enthusiasts keen to rehabilitate his reputation after the evil Shakespearian characterisation, now has a high profile.
Queuing at the exhibition
The day after the announcement of the body’s identity, the local newspaper, the Leicester Mercury, under a banner headline of ‘THE KING!’, offered a 12-page Richard III souvenir edition. This gave a blow by blow account, with multiple photographs, of the archaeology and investigation. When I tried to get into the special exhibition (‘Search for Richard III’) at Leicester’s Guildhall recently I had to give up because of the length of the queues waiting to enter.
Of course, what clinched the identity of the skeleton was the DNA match with a 17th-generation nephew of Richard, a Canadian cabinet-maker called Michael Ibsen.
Another Plantagenet
However, also buried in Leicestershire, but largely forgotten, lies another Plantagenet descendant with a much closer connection to the controversial monarch. Arthur Hildersham, Richard’s third-generation nephew (descended from his brother, George, Duke of Clarence) was a Puritan minister who spent more than 40 years in the Leicestershire market town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch. His body was interred in the chancel of St Helen’s, Ashby, in 1632. Hildersham, like Richard, deserves to be rediscovered in 2013, since this year marks the 450th anniversary of his birth.
Who, then, was Arthur Hildersham, and how did he end up in a small country town? He was born in Stetchworth, Cambridgeshire, in 1563, five years after Elizabeth I (who called him ‘cousin’) came to the English throne. His parents were zealous Roman Catholics, especially his mother, Ann Pole. She was the niece of Cardinal Reginald Pole, Mary I’s Archbishop of Canterbury, who was charged with steering England back into the papal fold. But Arthur was converted as a schoolboy, after hearing gospel truths for the first time. His father wanted him to become a Roman Catholic priest, but when Arthur rejected these plans, he was promptly disinherited by his parents. Hildersham was left, aged 15, penniless and friendless in London, not knowing what the future held for him.
Hildersham’s cousin
However, in the providence of God, Hildersham’s plight came to the attention of his cousin, Henry Hastings, Third Earl of Huntingdon, another Plantagenet descendant. Hastings was known as the ‘Puritan Earl’ because of his support for godly preachers. Many thought he had a stronger claim to the English throne than Elizabeth herself. Some of those who desired further reform in the Church of England wanted Hastings to be named as Elizabeth’s heir rather than James VI of Scotland. When the earl heard of Hildersham’s situation, he became his patron, sponsoring the rest of his university career at Cambridge. In 1587, the earl invited Hildersham to become town lecturer at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, site of his own castle and residence. Lecturers were Church of England ministers outside the parish system, usually paid for by individuals, groups, or town councils. There were fewer restrictions on their preaching than that of parish clergy. Then, in 1593, when the post became vacant, the earl presented Hildersham to the vicarage of Ashby. The 1590s were a time of great spiritual blessing in the town, with many conversions as people flocked to hear Hildersham preach.
Ejected
Hildersham was a ceremonial nonconformist, which brought him into conflict with the church authorities. He, along with many other so-called ‘Puritans’ within the Church of England felt that certain worship rituals like making the sign of the cross in baptism, kneeling to receive Communion and wearing the surplice were unbiblical and superstitious. To a large extent the third earl and his successors (the fourth and fifth earls) were able to shield Hildersham from the most serious consequences of his nonconformity during Elizabeth’s reign. But after James I came to the throne in 1603, things got a lot worse for Hildersham. Hildersham had a high profile because of his organisation of the Puritan Millenary Petition, presented to James on his accession. James had a great dislike of Puritanism generally, and he developed a deep personal antipathy to Hildersham in particular.
As a consequence, Hildersham found himself ejected from his vicarage in 1605 for his refusal to conform. He was never again allowed to serve as a parish minister. From 1613 to 1625, Hildersham was banned from preaching completely, though he never left the Church of England. He was heavily fined and suffered a spell of imprisonment. He was reinstated as a lecturer in 1625, only months after James’s death, and was able to preach again in Ashby for the seven years before he died in 1632.
Largely forgotten
Hildersham’s 17th-century biographer Samuel Clarke reckoned that it would be ‘hard to find that any man was before … so deeply fined and heavily censured, merely for his judgment and conscience against that government and those orders of the church that were then established’ ( The Lives of Two and Twenty English Divines, 1660, p.381). Despite being big news in Elizabethan and early Stuart England, though, Hildersham has been largely forgotten today. There are probably three reasons for this: first, his self-effacing nature which shunned any public attention; second, the loss of most of his private papers; and, third, his rather heavy and long-winded preaching style. None of his sermons are now in print, although they were widely read in the 17th century.
Deserving of rediscovery
However, like his relative Richard III, Hildersham deserves to be rediscovered — but for different reasons. We should not forget his historical significance, as one of the leaders of the Puritan movement who was greatly esteemed by his brethren. Perhaps even more importantly, Hildersham has a spiritual relevance for us today. We can learn much from his example. How he held firm to his conscience, informed by the Word of God, against official pressure. How he endured persecution in an environment increasingly hostile to evangelicalism. How he continued to serve his people, even when he was banned from preaching to them. How he decided to stick with a church, despite its obvious corruptions. And how he did all this with a gracious and peaceable spirit.
Dr. Lesley Rowe is Associate Fellow in the History Department of Warwick University, having completed a PhD on the works and ministry of Arthur Hildersham in 2009. Her book The Life and Times of Arthur Hildersham: Prince among Puritans was published by Reformation Heritage Books in March.
