John Stubbs

John Stubbs (or Stubbe) (c. 1543–1591) was an English pamphleteer or political commentator during the Elizabethan era.

He was born in the County of Norfolk, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge.^[1] After reading law at Lincoln's Inn, he lived at Thelveton, in the County of Norfolk. He was a committed Puritan, and he opposed the negotiations for marriage between Queen Elizabeth and François, Duke of Anjou, a French Roman Catholic, the brother of the King of France.

Publishes pamphlet on French Marriage

In 1579 he put his opinions into a pamphlet entitled The Discovery of a Gaping Gulf whereunto England is like to be swallowed by another French Marriage, if the Lord forbid not the banns, by letting her Majesty see the sin and punishment thereof.^[2] Copies of the text were later publicly burned in the kitchen stove of Stationer's Hall. 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 immorality would be undermined by so close a relationship with the French monarchy.

Stubbs 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 diminution 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."

Trial, punishment, and further writing

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 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, and Stubbs' right hand was cut off on 3 November 1579. At the time Stubbs protested his loyalty to the Crown, and immediately before the public dismemberment delivered a shocking pun: "Pray for me now my calamity is at hand."^[3] His right hand having been cut off, he removed his hat with his left, and cried "God Save the Queen!" before fainting.^[3] His fellow conspirator, the publisher William Page, according to witness William Camden, (Camden, Historie III, 10, placed wrongly under 1581 ) lifted up his bleeding hand, and said : " I left there a true Englishman's hand. " ^[4] The scene is recreated in the 2006 TV miniseries, The Virgin Queen, starring Anne-Marie Duff as Elizabeth I.

Stubbs was subsequently imprisoned for eighteen months. On being released in 1581 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.

Marriage and issue

John Stubbs married Anne de Vere (d.1617), widow of Christopher Shernborne (d. 7 July 1575), and daughter of Aubrey de Vere, second son of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford. By her marriage to Christopher Shernborne, Anne had a son, Francis Shernborne, esquire, who was the last of the male line to bear the surname. Francis Shernborne married Martha Colt, said to have been the daughter of Sir George Colt of Cavendish, Suffolk, by whom he had a daughter and heir, Mary Colt, who married Sir Augustine Sotherton of Taverham, near Norwich.^[5][6]

Modern research on Stubbs

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.

Footnotes

References

• Berry, Lloyd E., ed. (1968). John Stubbs’s Gaping Gulf with Letters and Other Relevant Documents. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia. p. xxiv.  |accessdate= requires |url= (help)
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press