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Nicholas Ferrar

Nicholas Ferrar(22 February 1592 – 4 December 1637) was an English scholar,courtierand businessman, who was ordained adeaconin theChurch of England.He lost much of his fortune in theVirginia Companyand retreated with his extended family in 1626 to the manor ofLittle Gidding,Huntingdonshire,for his remaining years, in an informal spiritual community followingHigh Anglicanpractice.[1]His friend the poet and Anglican priestGeorge Herbert(1593–1633), on his deathbed, sent Ferrar themanuscriptofThe Temple,telling him to publish the poetry if it might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul." "If not, let him burn it; for I and it are less than the least of God's mercies."[2]Ferrar published the verses in 1633; they remain in print.

Nicholas Ferrar
Nicholas Ferrar,
from a portrait byCornelius Janssens,the original of which hangs inMagdalene College, Cambridge,alongside those of his parents.
Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community
Born(1592-02-22)22 February 1592
City of London,England
Died4 December 1637(1637-12-04)(aged 45)
Little Gidding,Huntingdonshire,England
Venerated inAnglican Communion
Feast4 December (Church of England), 1 December (Episcopal Church (US)andSouthern Africa)

Early life

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Nicholas Ferrar was born in theCity of London,England[3]the third son and fifth child (of six) of Nicholas Ferrar and his wifeMary Ferrar(néeWodenoth). He is sometimes identified as Nicholas Ferrar the Younger while his father is identified as Nicholas Ferrar the Elder. Having been sent to a nearby school, he is said to have been reading perfectly by the age of five. He was confirmed by theBishop of Londonin 1598, contriving to have the bishop lay hands on him twice.[4]In 1600 he was sent away toboarding schoolinBerkshire,and in 1605, aged 13, he enteredClare Hall,Cambridge.He was elected a fellow-commoner at the end of his first year, took hisBAin 1610 and elected a fellow the following year.[5]

Travels abroad

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Ferrar suffered from poor health and was advised to travel to continental Europe, away from the damp air of Cambridge. He obtained a position in the retinue ofPrincess Elizabeth,daughter ofJames Iwho married theElectorFrederick V.In April 1613 he left England with the princess, not returning until 1618.

By May he had left the Court to travel alone. Over the next few years he visited theDutch Republic,Austria,Bohemia,Italy and Spain, learning to speak Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish. He studied atLeipzigand especially atPadua,where he continued his medical studies. He metAnabaptistsandRoman Catholics,includingJesuitsandOratorians,as well asJews,broadening his religious education. During this time Ferrar recorded many adventures in his letters home to his family and friends. In 1618 he is said to have had avisionthat he was needed at home, and so he returned to England.[6]

Virginia Company

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St John's Church,Little Gidding,as rebuilt in 1714

The Ferrar family was deeply involved in theVirginia Company of London.His family home was often visited by SirWalter Raleigh,half-brother of SirHumphrey Gilbert.Upon returning to London, Ferrar found that the family fortunes, primarily invested in Virginia, were under threat.

Ferrar entered theParliament of England,serving briefly as Member of Parliament forLymingtonin 1624, and worked withSir Edwin Sandys.They were part of a parliamentary faction (the "country party" or "patriot party" ) that seized control of the government's finances from a rival "court faction", and were grouped aroundRobert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick.The court faction supported SirThomas Smythe(or Smith), also a prominent member of theEast India Company.Smythe as treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 encouraged the governor to end evangelisation of Native Americans and expand tobacco culture.[7]

Ferrar wrote a 16-pagepamphletcriticising Smythe's management.[a]Smythe (as he spelt his name) was criticised by rivals for allegedly skimming profits, but an investigation revealed no wrongdoing and he continued to enjoy the support of the king.[9]The argument ended with the London Virginia Company losing itscharterafter a court decision in May 1624.

At Little Gidding

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Main article:Little Gidding community
Stained-glass window at St Andrew's church,Bemerton,of Ferrar andGeorge Herbert

In 1626 Ferrar and his extended family left London and moved to the largely deserted village ofLittle Giddingin Huntingdonshire. The household centred on the Ferrar family: Nicholas's mother, his brother John Ferrar (with his wife Bathsheba and their children), and his sister Susanna, with her husband John Collett and their children. They bought the manor of Little Gidding and restored the abandoned little church for their use. The household always had someone at prayer and had a strict routine. They tended to the health and education of local children. Ferrar and his family produced harmonies of the Gospels that survive today as some of the finest in Britain. Many of the family also learned the art ofbookbinding,apparently from the daughter of a Cambridge bookbinder, whose style they worked in.[10][11]

In 1633 the poetGeorge Herbert,on his deathbed, sent themanuscriptofThe Templeto Nicholas Ferrar, telling him to publish the poems if he thought they might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul", and otherwise, to burn them. Ferrar arranged to publish them that year.The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations(1633) had gone through eight editions by 1690.[12]

Nicholas Ferrar died on 4 December 1637 aged 45, but the extended family continued their way of life without him. After his siblings John Ferrar and Susanna Ferrar Collett died in 1657 within a month of each other, the larger community began to disband.

Puritans criticised the life of the Ferrar household, denouncing them asArminians,and saying they lived as in a "Protestant nunnery". However, the Ferrars never lived a formalreligiouslife: there was no Rule, vows were not taken, and there was no enclosure. In this sense there was no "community" at Little Gidding, but rather a family living a Christian life in accordance with theBook of Common Prayer,according toHigh Churchprinciples.

The fame of the Ferrar household was widespread, and attracted many visitors. Among them was KingCharles I,who visited Little Gidding three times. He briefly took refuge there in 1645 after theBattle of Naseby.

Legacy and honours

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Armorial Bearings for Nicholas Ferrar
"Easter Wings",an example of the"pattern poems"inGeorge Herbert'sThe Temple,a book which Ferrar edited and had published. The lines of the poem were arranged to be printed sideways, with each stanza forming an image meant to suggest a bird flying up with outstretched wings.[13]

Nicholas Ferrar iscommemoratedin thecalendarof theChurch of Englandon4 December,the date of his death.[14]In the calendar of theEpiscopal Church in the United States,theAnglican Church of Southern Africaand theChurch in Wales,he is commemorated on 1 December.

T. S. Eliothonoured Nicholas Ferrar in theFour Quartets,naming one of the quartetsLittle Gidding.The Friends of Little Gidding were founded in 1946 by Alan Maycock with the patronage of Eliot, to maintain and adorn the church at Little Gidding, and honour the life of Ferrar and his family and their place in the village. The Friends organise an annual pilgrimage to Ferrar's tomb, formerly held each July, but in recent years in May (the month when Eliot visited Little Gidding) and celebrate Nicholas Ferrar Day on the Saturday nearest to 4 December.

A new religious community was founded at Little Gidding in the 1970s, inspired by the example of Ferrar and called the Community of Christ the Sower, but it disbanded in 1998. ThePilsdonCommunity in Dorset was also based on Ferrar's Little Gidding model.[15]

The formerPoet LaureateTed Hugheswas directly related to Nicholas Ferrar on his mother's side. Hughes and his wife, the poetSylvia Plath,named their sonNicholas Farrar Hughes.The family evidently used both spellings of the surname.[16]

Nicholas Ferrar is regarded as patron of theOratory of the Good Shepherd,an international Anglican religious community.

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^This pamphlet was presented to the members of theRoxburghe Clubby theDuke of Devonshire,but it was not published until 1990. Ferrar alleged that Smith and his son-in-law, Alderman Robert Johnson, were running a company within a company to skim off the profits from the shareholders. He also alleged that DrJohn Woodallhad bought some Polishsettlersas whiteslaves,and sold them again in Virginia toLord de La Warr.Ferrar said that Smith was trying to reduce other colonists to slavery by extending their period ofindentureindefinitely beyond the seventh year.[8]

Citations

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  1. ^Wilson 1965.
  2. ^Maycock 1938,pp. 234–235.
  3. ^Maycock 1938,p. 6.
  4. ^Maycock 1938,p. 10.
  5. ^"Ferrar, Nicholas (FRR609N)".A Cambridge Alumni Database.University of Cambridge.
  6. ^Maycock 1938.
  7. ^Hodgkins 2002,p. 156.
  8. ^Ferrar 1990.
  9. ^Sainsbury 1860,pp. 31–32.
  10. ^Horne 1894,p. 184.
  11. ^Harthan 1950,p. 13.
  12. ^Cox 2004,p. 92.
  13. ^Ferguson, Stallworthy & Salter 1996,p. 331.
  14. ^"The Calendar".The Church of England.Retrieved10 April2021.
  15. ^"History".Pilsdon.org.uk.Retrieved8 November2018.
  16. ^Butscher 1976,p. 284.

Sources

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Further reading

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Wikiquote has quotations related toNicholas Ferrar.
Parliament of England
Preceded by Member of Parliament forLymington
1624
With:John More 		Succeeded by
John Button
John Mills
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