Rev. Alexander Nowell

Alexander Nowell (c. 1507 – 13 February 1602) was an Anglican Puritan theologian and clergyman, who served as dean of St Paul's during much of Elizabeth I's reign.
He was the eldest son of John Nowell of Read Hall, Read, Lancashire, by his second wife Elizabeth Kay of Rochdale, and was the brother of Laurence Nowell. He was twice married, but left no children.

Nowell was educated at Middleton, near Rochdale, Lancashire and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he is said to have shared rooms with John Foxe the martyrologist. He was elected fellow of Brasenose in 1526. In 1543 he was appointed master of Westminster School, and in December 1551 prebendary of Westminster.

He was elected in September 1553 as Member of Parliament for West Looe in Cornwall in Queen Mary's first parliament. In October of that year, however, a committee of the house reported that he could not sit in the House of Commons because as prebendary of Westminster he had a seat in Convocation.

Nowell was also deprived of his prebend, probably as being a married man, before May 1554, and sought refuge at Strasbourg and Frankfurt, where he developed Puritan and almost Presbyterian views. He submitted, however, to the Elizabethan settlement of religion, and was rewarded with the archdeaconry of Middlesex, a canonry at Canterbury and in 1560 with the deanery of St Paul's.

His sermons occasionally created some stir, and on one occasion Elizabeth interrupted his sermon, telling him to stick to his text and cease slighting the crucifix. On another occasion she rebuked him in the vestry for having given her a prayer book with pictures of saints and angels that smacked of the Church of Rome.[1] He held the deanery of St Paul's for forty-two years, surviving until the 13th of February 1602.

Written works
Nowell is believed to have composed the Catechism inserted before the Order of Confirmation in the Prayer Book of 1549, which was supplemented in 1604 and is still in use; but the evidence is not conclusive.

Early in Elizabeth's reign, however, he wrote a larger catechism, to serve as a statement of Protestant principles; it was printed in 1570, and in the same year appeared his "middle" catechism, designed it would seem for the instruction of "simple curates." Nowell also established a free school at Middleton and made other benefactions for educational purposes.

Footnotes[edit]1.Jump up ^ Greenwood, Walter (1951) Lancashire. London: Robert Hale; pp. 171-72 References[edit] Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Alexander Nowell

See Ralph Churton, Life of Alexander Nowell (Oxford, 1809); Gilbert Burnet, History of the Reformation (new ed., Oxford, 1865); Richard Watson Dixon, History of the Church of England. Also the Works of John Strype; the Publications of the Parker Society; the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic;

"Nowell, Alexander". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.  Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press

Alexander Nowell (c. 1517 – 13 February 1602, aka Alexander Noel) was an Anglican priest and theologian[1]. He served as Dean of St Paul's during much of Elizabeth I's reign, and is now remembered for his catechisms.[2]

Early life He was the eldest son of John Nowell of Read Hall, Read, Lancashire, by his second wife Elizabeth Kay of Rochdale, and was the brother of Laurence Nowell.[2] His sister Beatrice was the mother of John Hammond;[3] Robert Nowell, attorney of the court of wards, was his other brother.[4] Nowell was educated at Middleton, near Rochdale, Lancashire and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he is said to have shared rooms with John Foxe the martyrologist. He was elected fellow of Brasenose in 1526, spending some 13 years in Oxford.[2] In London In 1543 Nowell was appointed master of Westminster School, and, in December 1551, prebendary of Westminster Abbey. At this period he became involved in a controversy with Thomas Dorman, over the views of the late John Redman, which ran on in different forms for many years.[2] Nowell was elected in September 1553 as Member of Parliament for West Looe in Cornwall in Queen Mary's first parliament. In October of that year, however, a committee of the house reported that he could not sit in the House of Commons because as prebendary of Westminster he had a seat in Convocation. He was then also deprived of his prebend, in 1554.[2] Marian exile Nowell was one of the Marian exiles, Protestants who left England during the Reign of Mary I and Philip II. He left England in 1555, aided by the merchant Francis Bowyer. He went first to Strassburg and then to Frankfurt, where he became involved in the doctrinal and liturgical dispute between the exiles. While trying to moderate the discussions, Nowell came to side with John Knox.[2] Dean of St Paul's Nowell returned to England when Elizabeth I came to the throne, becoming chaplain to Edmund Grindal in December 1560. He was given the archdeaconry of Middlesex at the start of 1561, a canonry at Canterbury, and in November 1561 became Dean of St Paul's.[2] In 1562 the Bishop of London collated him with the Parish of Great or Much Hadham in Hertfordshire, where the Bishops had a palace.[5] In the Convocation of 1563 Nowell played a prominent part. On its opening day, 12 January, he preached in Westminster Abbey the sermon for the opening of the concurrent Parliament. In it he gave offence to the Queen, when he called on her to marry.[2][6] It was said that she never spoke a friendly word to him again.[7] On the following day, Matthew Parker nominated him as prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation. Elected to the post, he was used to keep the two Houses, the Upper consisting of bishops, in touch with each other.[2] Friction with the Queen is well attested. On one occasion she rebuked Nowell in the vestry for having given her a prayer book with pictures of saints and angels that smacked of the Church of Rome. On another, in March 1565, she interrupted his sermon, directed against a work A Treatyse of the Crosse (1564) of John Martiall, telling him to stick to his text and cease slighting the crucifix.[2][8][9] In 1594 he was appointed Canon of the eleventh stall at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, a position he held until 1602.[10] Death and legacy Nowell held the deanery of St Paul's for 42 years, until his death on 13 February 1602. With his brother Robert, a lawyer, he re-established the free school at Middleton; and made other benefactions for educational purposes at Brasenose College.[2] Some time after his death he was credited by Thomas Fuller (and his later revisers), with the accidental invention of bottled beer.[11][12] "Without offence it may be remembered, that leaving a bottle of ale, when fishing, in the grass, he found it some days after, no bottle, but a gun, such the sound at the opening thereof : and this is believed (casualty is mother of more inventions than industry) the original of bottled ale in England."[13] He was also a keen angler, and Izaak Walton says, "this good man was observed to spend a tenth part of his time in angling ; and also (for I have conversed with those which have conversed with him) to bestow a tenth part of his revenue, and usually all his fish, amongst the poor that inhabited near to those rivers in which it was caught; saying often, 'that charity gave life to religion'".[14] Works Nowell is now remembered for his work on catechisms. His Latin Catechismus puerorum, in manuscript, gained the support of the Lower House in the Convocation of 1563. It was printed in 1570, as Catechismus, sive, Prima institutio disciplinaque pietatis Christianae, with Matthew Parker's approval. It was officially required to be used in schools, in 1571, and Thomas Norton translated it into English, as A Catechism, or, First instruction of Christian religion (1570). Abridged versions appeared: the "middle" catechism (1572) and "shorter" catechism (1573).[2] A Welsh translation, Catecism eglwys loegr by Thomas Jones of Denbigh, appeared in 1809.[15] Family Nowell was twice married, but left no children; his first wife was Jane Mery, widow of Thomas Bowyer, the uncle of Francis Bowyer, his second Elizabeth Hast, twice widow. He was also the uncle of the theologian William Whitaker, who translated the "middle" catechism into Greek.[2]