English parish would not have some form or copy of Jewel’s works.^11
In tandem with Jewel’s corpus, Humphrey’s Vita Iuellihas since its
day been the basis for virtually all who wrote on Jewel’s life, lending
them both its hagiographical themes, and its laudatory appellations. And
while it certainly was not the beginning of Jewel’s status in the Church
of England, it facilitated it, providing those who afterwards wrote
sympathetically on the bishop an image that was never abandoned.
Daniel Featley’s biography, attached to the first publication of Jewel’s
collected works in 1609, followed the main outline of the Vita Iuelli, and
even translated some of Humphrey. Featley’s work, however, appended
to the large 1609 folio volume of Jewel’s work, only runs to 22 pages.^12
Like Humphrey before him, Featley portrayed Jewel only in a flattering
light: he compared his lapse under Mary to that of St Peter’s at Christ’s
trial (an analogy drawn from Humphrey); he paid special attention to
Jewel’s diligence in his writing, that the bishop produced something
almost every year; and quoted Humphrey (without citation) that when
upon his fatal illness he was enjoined to rest, Jewel replied that ‘it
becommeth best a bishop to die preaching in the pulpit’.^13 Featley also
first raised the specter of Jewel’s unpublished manuscripts. Following
Garbrand’s death in 1589, Jewel’s remaining papers were turned over to
Robert Chaloner DD, of Christ Church, and the sometime Puritan John
Rainolds of Corpus Christi College. Rainolds at the time of Garbrand’s
death was still inclined to Puritanism, but by 1604 his less than assertive
performance before James I riled many of his Puritan brethren.^14 He died
in 1607 and was buried at Corpus Christi College, Featley preaching his
funeral. It was probably his association with Rainolds that allowed
Featley to see the phantom manuscripts.^15 But despite Humphrey’s and
228 JOHN JEWEL AND THE ENGLISH NATIONAL CHURCH
(^11) My thanks to Professor John Craig who provided me this information from his paper,
‘Erasmus or Calvin? The politics of Book Purchase in the English parish, 1538–1640’.
Delivered at the 2003 Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Pittsburgh. Professor Craig’s
conclusions are based on work he had done as a Munby fellow at Cambridge University
for the academic year 2002–3.
(^12) Featley, Life of Jewel, pp. xvii, xx, xxx. 1609 edition of Jewel’s works, pp. xiii–xxxii
{xxxiv the pages are mis-paginated, and should read xxxiv}. By contrast, Humphrey’s
biography runs to some 287 pages. Only 209 of these are actually Humphrey’s biography,
there are 33 pages of epigrams and poems written at the time of Jewel’s death appended to
the work, 45 pages on dedicatory and introductory concerns.
(^13) Featley, Works Jewell, pp. xvii, xx, xxx. Featley’s work does present some
unanswered questions. On page xxii he talks about Hooper of Gloucester inquiring of
Jewel about the meanings of certain Welsh and Irish words. But Hooper had perished
outside his cathedral in 1555 during the Marian persecutions.
(^14) Collinson,Elizabethan Puritan Movement, pp. 455–62.
(^15) Woods, Atheniae Oxoniensis, II, cols. 76–80. Featley was the son of the cook of
Magdalen College, and then later entered Corpus Christi College. Named Fairclough by
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