CHAPTER IV.

Robert Fludd born at Milgate, 1574 — Parish Church of Bearsted — Description of Localities — Ancestors — Monuments — Sir Thomas Fludd — Arms — Relations — Sir Nicholas Gilbourne — Other Friends — Boyhood — Mother’s Death — Entered at St. John’s, Oxford — History of that College — Opposed to Puritanism — Buckeridge — Laud — with Fludd at St. John’s — Life in Oxford at that time — Josephus Barbatus — an Eastern Scholar — Contrast between the Work of Laud and Fludd — Story of an Oxford Scholar — Killed on Salisbury Plain.
JDOBERT FLUDD was bom at Milgate House, in the parish of Bearsted and county of Kent, in the year 1574. Unfortunately, the earlier baptismal and other registers of that parish are not now extant. The oldest now extant, and that is in a fragmentary state, commences in the year 1653. Bearsted is a parish not far from Maid- stone. The parish church, where Fludd and his ancestors lie buried in the Milgate chantry, is close by the village green, not far from the railway station of Bearsted. The church itself is old, and at the west end is a large square tower, covered with masses of ivy. The rustic impression and deep country silence befit that spot, where one of the most extraordinary thinkers on the English roll of original men lies at rest.” ^ Not far off stands the more modern house of Milgate. A valley intervenes between the church and the manor house. In the valley is the site where it is understood the old Court of Witenagamote assembled from the earliest dawn of English history. Milgate House is approached through an avenue of magnificent old trees, and “ one corner of the old manor place of Milgate is said still
^ Jennings’ Rosicrucians, 362.
DOCTOR ROBERT FLUDD.
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to remain built in the manor house erected on its site when the old house fell into ruins.” ^ A sluggish stream flows near to the house. In the Church of Bearsted, the north aisle contains the Milgate chantry or chapel. In it are the seats and monuments of the Fludd family. The race was of Welsh origin, and came originally froin Shropshire. At the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, George Stone- house of Milgate alienated this seat to Thomas Fludd, Esquire, afterwards knighted, and who considerabl}^ im- proved and augmented it.” ^ A monument erected in memory of Thomas Fludd, his wife and family, by their son, the subject of this monograph, which had fallen into decay, has been pieced together, set in cement, and placed in the south wall of the tower of Bearsted Church, opposite to which is the marble monument of Robert Fludd, which originally stood by the altar rails on the south side of the chancel. The inscription on the older monument may be made out as follows : —
“ Vivit post funera.
“ Sr. Thomas Fludd of Milgate, Knight, [being of a g] entile familie in the Countie of Shropshire, and being bu [t a younger br] other, was in his youth made victualer, first of Barwick and then of New-Haven in France, being both of them garrison t [owns]. He was by the Queene Elizabeth her voluntary election made R [ecei] vour of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, and afterwards was chosen treasurer of that English Army which was sent b^ her Majestie in the ayde of Henry IV., Kinge of France, ixnder the conducte of that renowned Generali, ye Lord Willowbi [e, in which] service he behaved himself so worthily that he was [invest] ed with the order of k [ni] ghthood, and after his returne into [England was m] ade Treasurer of all her Majestie’s forces in the Lowe [count] ries, and for his particnl [a] r employment he was constant in the [comm] ission of the Peace in the c [oun] ty wherein he lived. Also he was [in the go] od opinion not o [nl] y of the inhabitants thereof, but also of her [Majestie]. He maried one [E] lizabeth Andros, a gentlewoman, whose family [was] of [Taunt] on, in So [m] ersetshire, and by her had diverse children, na [m] ely, [six] sons [th] at lived, Edw [a] rd, Thomas, William, John, Robert, and Philipp ; whereo [f] Edward was married unto a daughter of Sr. Michael Sands of Thr [o] wly, in Kent, Knight ; and Thomas tooke to wif the daughter of Living B [o] fkin of Otham, Escpure. Of daughters which lived he had [two, Cathe] rine and Sai’ah, whereof the first was married unto Sr. [Nicho] las Gilburne of Charing, Knight ; and the second to Thomas Luns [ford, E] squire. To conclude, being dearly beloved of both of the ri [ch and p] oore for honest dealing and good hospitali [ty, at last by de] ath was i [nvest] ed of [ . . ] an [other] life,
de [pa] rted this lif the [ th], and his lat [e wife] doe lye interred in this [church].
^ Waite, Rosicrucians, 284. ^ Waite, Rosicrucians, 284.
C
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DOCTOR ROBERT FLUDD.
“ Ye gentle spirits which [hover in this hou] se,
Within the bosoine of this [sacre] d ayre,
[ . . . ] witness his duty, who hat [h ever] been
[Most tr] uthful lover of those s [leeper] s fayre,
[ • • • ] which gave him life, and tell them that his choice desire
[Was] first to reare their monuments and then expire.”
Sir Thomas Fludd died March 30, l(i07. In the Mil^ate chantry, in Bearsted Church, still stands a monument
Bearsted Church, showing Milgate Chantry.
to Elizabeth Andros, the wife of Sir Thomas Fludd. It refers to “ what her matchless industry in housekeeping was, and how amply she expressed herself in the entertain- ment of her friends, and in what laudable manner her hospitality was extended to the poor, we need not to express in writing, being that the essential characters thereof are engraven to this very day in the hearts of such as are yet living who were conversant with her in her life. She changed this mortal life for an immortal the 25th day of January 1591.”
DOCTOR ROBERT FLUDD.
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“ Accept, 0 blessed soul, as sacrifice,
A filial signal of obedience.
And let this marble meniorie suffice,
Altho’ but in a part of recompense.
To manifest the loyal duty of your sonue.
Before his toilsome pilgrimage of life be done.”
This monument to his mother was also erected by Robert Fludd.
Sir Thomas Fludd was also Treasurer of the Cinque Ports. “ He bore for his arms; — Vert., a chevron between three wolves’ heads erased, argent ; which coat, with his quarterings, was confirmed to him by Robert Cook, Clar., Nov. 10, 1572.” ^ From the monument it appears, then, that Robert was the fifth of the “ sons that lived.” He refers to his descent in the dispute with Foster, thus : — “ And now I will express the cause, why I put the Esquier before the Doctor. It is for two considerations : first, because I was an Esquier, and gave arms before I was a Doctor, as being a knight’s sonne ; next, because, though a Doctor addeth gentilitie to the person, who by descent is ignoble ; yet it is the opinion of most men, and especially of Heraulds, that a gentleman of antiquitie is to be j:)re- ferred before any one of the first head or degree ; and verily, for mine oune part, I had rather bee without any degree in Vniversitie than lose the honour was left me by my ancestors.”^ Fludd several times refers to Sir Nicholas Gilbourne, who married his sister. He calls him '' judicious, religious, and learned.” Sir Nicholas appears in the com- pany “ of very good and learned Divines,” with Lady Ralegh at Eastwell at the Countesse of Winchelsey her house ” ; also assisting at compounding of weapon salve ointment, and helping to cure various persons therewith, including a boy, “ Brent Deering (the sonne of Master Finsh Deeringj,” who having gone '' into a pond to seeke for fish, . . had a Reed runne into the calf of his le^.” ^
We know nothing of the boyhood and earlier life of
^ Waite’s Rosicrucians, 284.
^ The Squeesing of Parson Foster’s Sponge, p. 6.
^ The Squeesing of Parson Foster’s Sponge, 108-111, 131.
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DOCTOR ROBERT FLUDD.
Fludd. The parish of Bearsted seems then to have had no resident vicar. It was served by clergy from the neigh- bouring parish of Leeds. Henry Pawson (1614) appears to have been the first resident incumbent.
At the age of seventeen, Fludd lost his mother, and the same year was entered at S. John’s College, Oxford. He graduated B.A., 3rd February 1596-7, and M.A., 8th July 1598. The College of S. John the Baptist at Oxford was a new foundation, having been founded by Sir Thomas White, a London merchant, who had been knighted by Queen Mary. It was “ settled in the buildings of an old Cistertian house. The hall and chapel were those of the monastery ; the fine old cellars also belonged to the older days, and there still stood the statue of the holy Bernard over the door.” ^ The spirit of the new colleges of Trinity and S. John was supposed to be rather in the direction of a variety of knowledge, than of theology and the classics.” ^ The College of S. John was at this time under the able super- intendence of John Buckericlge, afterwards its president, and successively Bishop of Rochester and Ely. Buckeridge “ was distinguished for his zealous attachment to the Church of England, particularly in opposition to the Puritans.” ^ ‘"A
person he was,” says Anthony A. Wood, “ of great gravity and learning.” He taught his pupils to found their theo- logical studies upon the noble foundations of fathers, councils, and ecclesiastical histories,” and “ to stand boldly opposed to the dominant Calvinism of the University.”'^ One of the other great lights of learning at this time at Oxford was Dr John Rainoldes, the President of Corpus, to whose Rabbinical studies reference has already been made. But a far greater man was entered at S. John’s on October 17, 1589, two years before Fludd came there. This was William Laud, subsequently president of that college, its greatest benefactor and lifelong friend, afterwards Arch- bishop of Canterbury. Fludd and Laud were then at the
1 Hutton, Life of Laud, 5. - Laud, by a Roman Recusant, 11.
^ Parker, Laud, 1-9. Hutton, 6. See also Parker, i. 9, note.
DOCTOR ROBERT FLUDD.
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university together in the same college, and though the latter was two years senior, there need be no doubt but that they often met and were acquainted. Laud is then described as a very forward, confident, and zealous ])erson.” ^ In 1593, Laud became fellow of S. John’s, and in June 1594 graduated. He took the degree of M.A. in 1598, the same year as Fludd. He appears to have been resident in the college all these years as Fellow and after- wards as “ Grammar Reader.”^ Life at Oxford at this time was not remarkable for refinement or restraint. At times no man’s servant, nor the Mr himself, can sit at their owen doers, nor goe about their busyness in the eveninge quietly, but he shalbe beaten, and havinge anything in his hand, yt shall be taken awaye from him, as wyne and wyne pot.”^
It will be thus seen that the prevailing tone of S. John’s was opposed to that of Oxford generally. “ From S. John’s, guarded by his unfailing loyalty to his own college. Laud [and Fludd] could look out with some contempt on a university in which drunkenness was pre- valent, and was said to be fostered by the newly-introduced habit of smoking tobacco ; in which learning was satisfied with the study of Calvin’s institutes ; and where the Puritan chiefs, divided into two hostile camps, argued interminably the question whether the Divine decrees of rigid election and reprobation dated from before or after the fall of Adam.” ^ But about this time foreigners began to visit Oxford, and a special visitor must be noted in Josephus Barbatus, “ a learned Copt from Egyptian Memphis, who lectured for some years in his own mother tongue, and described the ancient Bible lands and dis- coursed about the Bible languages.”^ And in the college, too, remained and still remain many of the gorgeous vest- ments, chasubles, copes, dalmatics^ given by the founder.
^ Laud, by a Roman Recusant, 23. ^ Lawson, i. 11.
^ Laud, by a Roman Recusant, 14.
^ Simpkinson, Life and Times of Laud, 12, ° Simpkinson, 16.
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DOCTOR ROBERT FLUDD.
Laud, bound by his orders and studies to strict church authority, sought to enlarge the grandeur of the university by tlie encouragrnent of Oriental studies and the gifts of priceless MSS. ; while Fludd, the layman, sought, in mystic studies, yet with a freer hand, to illustrate founda- tion truths with strongly original thought, study, research, and conclusion. Both had their places, their duties, and their labours — successes sometimes, disappointments often, misunderstanding by both, and persecution from both Puritan and Romanist.
We are told that Fludd was a person “ of great personal sanctity,” and an incident which he relates in his “ Mosaicall Philosophy ” as having happened to an Oxford scholar may have taken place when he was there, and it appears to have made a great impression on him. ‘‘ There was also,” he says, a young towardly scholar, a great follower of Aristotle,” master of Salisbury School, who, having been at the Act at Oxford, did return homeward in the company of some merchants or other travellers, being on horseback,” when on Salisbury Plain a great tempest of thunder and lightning did arise.” The other travellers were afraid, but the scholar telling them it was nothing but a natural thing,” speaking lightly, which, when he had said, he only of all the company was by the lightning struck dead.” ^ Fludd dedicated some of his works to members of the Episcopate — Archbishop Abbot, Bishop Williams, and Bishop Thornburgh — “ being such as with my heart I reverence.” ^ He had a special regard for the Bishop of Worcester, v/hom he calls his noble friend.” He appears on one occasion as residing with him at Hartlebury Castle.^ Fludd was at all times a faithful and attached friend and member of the Church of England.
^ p. 15. 2 Squeesing of Parson Foster’s Sponge, 22.
^ Mosaicall Phil., 118.