John Stubbs
|
Stubbs "seditious" pamphlet. |
John Stubbs (or
Stubbe) (c.
1543 -
1591) was an
English pamphleteer or political commentator during the
Elizabethan era.
He was born in
Norfolk, and educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge. After studying
law at
Lincoln's Inn, he lived at Thelveton, Norfolk. He was a committed
Puritan, and he opposed the negotiations for a marriage between
Queen Elizabeth and the
French Roman Catholic duc d'Anjou, Duke of Alecon, the brother of the French king. The pamphlet argued that at forty-six years old Elizabeth was too old to have children and therefore had no need for marriage. He argued that English values, customs, language and morality would be undermined by so close a relationship with the French monarchy.
Stubbs's argued that his objective was to protect the freedom of thought and
free speech that he said was associated with
Protestantism. The proposed marriage could lead to a restoration of Catholic orthodoxy with its dimunition of liberty.
Stubbs undiplomatically described the proposed wedding as a "contrary coupling," "an immoral union, an uneven yoking of the clean ox to the unclean ass, a thing forbidden in the law" as laid down by St. Paul, a "more foul and more gross" union that would draw the wrath of God on England and leave the English "pressed down with the heavy loins of a worse people and beaten as with scorpions by a more vile nation."
In
1579 he put his opinions into a pamphlet entitled
The Discoverie of a Gaping Gulf whereinto England is like to be Swallowed by another French Marriage. Copies of the text were later publicly burned in the kitchen stove of Stationer's Hall.
Elizabeth's court were displeased by the publication. Circulation of this pamphlet was prohibited, and Stubbs, his printer, and publisher were tried at
Westminster, found guilty of "seditious writing", and sentenced to have their right hands cut off by means of a cleaver driven through the wrist by a croquet mallet. Initially Queen Elizabeth had favored the death penalty but was persuaded by adviser
John Jovey to opt for the lesser sentence. The printer was subsequently pardoned by Elizabeth, but in the case of Stubbs and his publisher the sentence was carried out. Stubbs protested his loyalty to the Crown. His right hand having been cut off, he removed his hat with his left, and cried "
God Save the Queen!" before fainting.
He was subsequently imprisoned for eighteen months. On being released he continued to write, publishing, among other pamphlets, a reply to
Cardinal Allen's
Defence of the English Catholics. Despite his punishment, he remained a loyal subject of Queen Elizabeth and later served in the
House of Commons. He died at
Le Havre, France, where he seems to have gone to volunteer for military service under
Henry of Navarre.
Linda Gregerson of the
University of Michigan is writing a book
Commonwealth of the Word: Nation and Reformation in Early Modern England that closely examines Stubbs' life and the contradictions of his loyalty to
the Crown in light of his punishment, the role of nationalism, patriotism and religion in shaping his beliefs.
