GEMMS IDGEMMS-PERSON-000633
NameRichard James
TitleMr.
Gendermale
Denomination
Livedb. ca. 1591-09-01 - d. ca. 1638-12-01 (old)
Linked Manuscriptsmanuscript owner - A sermon preached before the University by Richard James: MS. James 37manuscript owner - Manuscript containing a sermon by Richard James: MS. James 38manuscript owner - Papers of Richard James: MS. James 29
Linked SermonsSermon on James 5:14 -- preacher (autograph: uncertain)Sermon on John 12:32 -- preacher (autograph: yes)Sermon on unidentified text -- notetaker (autograph: no)
Linked Reports
Associated Places
Source of DataLucy Busfield; Robert Imes
Biographical Sources ConsultedODNB (Article: 14617); AO (Foster); CCEd (Person ID: 13604)
Other NoteBorn at Newport, Isle of Wight, and baptized there on 21 September 1591. Son of merchant, shipowner, mayor and MP for Newport, Richard James (d. 1613) and his wife Averen (d. 1615). Originally matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford on 6 May 1608, but in September 1608 he took a scholarship at Corpus Christi College. Admitted BA on 12 October 1611 and MA on 24 January 1615. On 30 September 1615, he became a probationary fellow of Corpus Christi. He was ordained as a priest in June 1617 at Oxford, and graduated BD on 7 July 1624. In the late 1610s, supported by his uncle, Dr. Edward James, canon of Christ Church and rector of Freshwater, Isle of Wight, Richard’s interests in antiquities and linguistics led him to travel widely in England, Wales, Scotland, Greenland, the North Cape, and Russia. While in Russia, he served as the chaplain to Sir Dudley Digges, ca. 1618. James was briefly married to Elizabeth, but she died while he was travelling in 1618. Richard wrote an incomplete Saxon and Norman history of the Isle of Wight, Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Russian dictionaries, assorted poems and anti-papist writings, and a number of sermons that were published from 1629-1633, and he assisted his uncle Thomas James on his study of Thomas Becket. Richard worked as Sir Robert Cotton’s librarian from c.1625 until his (Richard’s) death, and he lived at Cotton’s house in Westminster during these years. As well, under Charles I, Richard was active as a preacher in Oxford and London, though his strong anti-Catholic views likely hindered his ecclesiastical preferment during this reign. James and Cotton incurred Charles’s wrath and were imprisoned briefly for their alleged involvement with Oliver St John in circulating a 1612 pamphlet about bridling parliament among members of parliament in 1629. When Thomas James died in 1629, Richard was presented to Thomas’ sinecure living, the rectory of Little Mongeham, Kent, which he held until his resignation in 1635. Richard James died of quartan fever (malaria) in late 1638 in Westminster and was buried at St Margaret’s, Westminster on 8 December.
Attached URLs:
| URL | Notes |
|---|---|
| viaf.org/viaf/18312186/#James,_Richard,_1592-1638 | VIAF link |
| www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp793-836 | link to Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714 entry |
GEMMS record createdJuly 03, 2016
GEMMS record last editedJanuary 17, 2017