William Prynne

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William Prynne , 1600-1669, English political figure and Puritan pamphleteer. Beginning his attacks on Arminian doctrine in 1627, he soon earned the enmity of William Laud . When Prynne's strictures on the theater in his book, Historiomastix (1632), were interpreted as an attack on Charles I and his queen, he was fined, imprisoned (1633), pilloried (1634), and partly shorn of his ears. He continued his pamphleteering in jail and in 1637 was again fined, sentenced to life imprisonment, deprived of the remainder of his ears, and branded with the letters S.L. (for seditious libeler). He was released from prison by the Long Parliament in 1640 and was voted financial reparation. During the English civil war , Prynne strongly supported the parliamentary cause in his writings and took a vindictive part in prosecuting his old enemy, Laud. In defending his moderate theological position, however, he found himself opposing both Presbyterians and Independents. He also came into conflict with John Milton over Milton's advocacy of divorce. Prynne entered Parliament in 1648; but he opposed the demand of the army for the execution of Charles I and so was expelled in Pride's Purge. He wrote attacks against the Commonwealth, for which he was imprisoned (1650-53), and against the Protectorate, and later supported the Restoration of Charles II. In 1660 he became keeper of the records of the Tower of London.

Bibliography: See biography by E. W. Kirby (1931, repr. 1972); W. M. Lamont, Marginal Prynne, 1600-1669 (1963).

Prynne, William (1600–69). Puritan lawyer, antiquarian, and politician. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn, Prynne was hauled before the Court of Star Chamber in 1634 for publishing the Histriomastix. This work, a 1,000-page denunciation of female actors and of theatre in general, was interpreted as an attack on Charles I and Henrietta Maria. Prynne was rewarded with the loss of his ears. His attacks on the bishops landed him a second time before Star Chamber in 1637, where he was sentenced to lose what remained of his ears. After his release by the Long Parliament in 1640, Prynne was instrumental in securing the conviction and death of his enemy Archbishop Laud. He next turned his fire against religious radicals and the New Model Army. The army cordially returned his hostility, and had him arrested at Pride's Purge (6 December 1648). He continued to write long-winded pamphlets against the republic, popery, and quakerism during the 1650s. When the Long Parliament was recalled, Prynne introduced the bill in March 1660 for its dissolution. As a member of both Convention and Cavalier parliaments, he remained a presbyterian and resumed his attacks on bishops.

Ian Gentles

Prynne, William (1600–69). Puritan lawyer, antiquarian, and politician. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford, and Lincoln's Inn, Prynne was hauled before the Court of Star Chamber in 1634 for publishing the Histriomastix. This work, a 1,000–page denunciation of female actors and of theatre in general, was interpreted as an attack on Charles I and Henrietta Maria. Prynne was rewarded with the loss of his ears. His attacks on the bishops landed him a second time before Star Chamber in 1637, where he was sentenced to lose what remained of his ears. After his release by the Long Parliament in 1640, Prynne was instrumental in securing the conviction and death of his enemy Archbishop Laud. He continued to write long‐winded pamphlets against the republic, popery, and quakerism during the 1650s. When the Long Parliament was recalled, Prynne introduced the bill in March 1660 for its dissolution. As a member of both Convention and Cavalier parliaments, he remained a presbyterian and resumed his attacks on bishops.

Prynne, William (c.1602–69), Puritan controversialist. He was severely punished after the publication in 1632 of his Histriomastix, which was thought to contain veiled attacks on Charles I and Henrietta Maria, and he was again imprisoned in 1637 after he wrote against the ‘Book of Sports’. When the Long Parliament met in 1640 he was freed and defended the right to take up arms against the King. His ideal of the supremacy of the State over the Church put him out of sympathy with the Independents, whom he also attacked; and he hated the notion of toleration. When he gained a seat in the House of Commons in 1648, he unexpectedly opposed the King's execution. He was imprisoned for a time under the Commonwealth. In Feb. 1660 he resumed his seat in Parliament and brought in the bill for the dissolution preparatory to Charles II's restoration. Charles appointed him Keeper of the Tower Records, but his Presbyterianism brought him into conflict with the reviving Anglicanism.

Prynne, William (1600–69), Puritan pamphleteer. He wrote against Arminianism from 1627, and endeavoured to reform the manners of his age. He published Histriomastix (1633), an enormous work attacking stage-plays. For a supposed aspersion on Charles I and his queen in it he was sentenced by the Star Chamber, in 1634, to be imprisoned during life, to be fined, and to lose both his ears in the pillory. He was released by the Long Parliament, and his sentences declared illegal in Nov. 1640. He continued an active paper warfare, attacking Laud, then the independents, then the army (1647), then, after being arrested by Pride, the government. In 1660 he asserted the rights of Charles II, and was thanked by him. He published his most valuable work Brevia Parliamentaria Rediviva, in 1662.

Prynne, William (1600–69) English Puritan pamphleteer, a fearless campaigner on religious, moral, and political issues. His most famous pamphlet, Histrio Mastix (1632), was an attack on stage-plays; he was tried before the Star Chamber for its implied criticism of Queen HENRIETTA MARIA, who was a devotee of plays and masques. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and cropping of the ears (1634). He continued to write anti-episcopal pamphlets and in 1637 the remaining parts of his ears were removed. The LONG PARLIAMENT freed him in 1640. Elected to Parliament himself in 1648, he was expelled at PRIDE'S PURGE, and eventually supported the RESTORATION.