A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



Dayrell, over the Buckinghamshire border/ apparently to receive the Com- 

 munion according to the Puritan rite. It was he, too, who ordered the 

 imprisonment of one Flower alias Guye, of Northampton, afterwards accused 

 to the council of having spoken disrespectfully of Elizabeth and her supre- 

 macy.^ On 30 May, 1579, the council sent Wentworth a summons to appear 

 before them, and forbade him to admit any to the services at his house, except 

 persons from his own parish.* They also ordered the Northampton authorities 

 to send up Flower, and to certify what words he had used against the queen 

 and what had happened after they were spoken.* At the same time they 

 again required the bishop to repair to Northampton, and on this occasion 

 they associated with him Sir John Spencer, Sir Edmund Brudenell, Sir Edward 

 Montagu, and one Roger Cave, esquire. These commissioners were to call 

 in the aid of ' Mr. Shepparde, the archdeacon, and Mr. Smith, parson of 

 Blisworth ' (of whom the council seem to have entertained a high opinion), 

 and were to ' inform themselves of all such disorders in the town as either 

 Jenninges, the minister there, or any other could deliver unto them.' If the 

 bishop was still unwell the others were to proceed without him. A report 

 was afterwards to be sent up to the council.^ On 1 1 June the council notified 

 the mayor of Northampton of their dealings with John Flower. After first 

 committing him to prison they had released him ' upon his bond and sub- 

 mission.' As he had been accused also of having avoided the Communion at 

 his parish church, they had enjoined him to communicate there according to 

 the queen's injunctions on his return to Northampton. He was to signify 

 his willingness to do so to the curate of the parish, who was to report to the 

 council if Flower failed to present himself at the Communion service." 

 Shortly before this Martin Clipsham, vicar of St. Giles's, Northampton, had 

 presented to the council a schedule of disrespectful words that had been used 

 in the town against the queen. Instructions were therefore sent down 

 (11 June) together with the schedule, to Sir John Spencer, Sir Edward 

 Montagu, and Roger Cave, to repair to Northampton and inquire into the 

 matter with the assistance of the mayor, who was to inform the council as to 

 what the town authorities had been doing in the matter, and what he himself 

 could answer to a charge that had been made against him in the aforesaid 

 schedule. They were also to bind over John Roller to ' answer to law ' upon 

 notice to be given him at his dwelling. As, moreover, certain charges had 

 been brought against 'Jenninges, one of the ministers of that town,' they were 

 to investigate any complaint that might be presented by the mayor or others 

 against his life and doctrine, and, if necessary, were to cite the said Jenninges 

 or other offenders before the council.^ On 3 August the council wrote to 

 the lord treasurer and the chancellor of the exchequer (who, they had heard, 

 were about to visit Sir Christopher Hatton, the vice-chamberlain, at Holdenby), 

 enclosing the reports which they had received from Sir John Spencer and 

 others, and desiring their lordships as they would be so near to Northampton, 

 to summon ' William Jenninges, parson of Allhallowes,' to their presence, 

 together with the mayor and others, and to settle the dispute ' to the preser- 



' V.C.H. Bucks, i, 312. * Acts ofP.C. (New Ser.), xi, 133, 137, 219. 

 ' Ibid. The exception is interesting. Wentworth, it may be remarked, was a man of powerful con- 

 nexions. His wife was sister to Sir Francis Walsingham, and aunt by marriage to Sir Philip Sidney. 

 ' Ibid. 'Ibid. «Ibid. 158-9. 

 ' Ibid. I 59-60. 



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