1574 A RADICAL ENGLISH WORK PRINTED ABROAD: Full and Plaine Declaration of Ecclcsiasticall Discipline

AN RADICAL ENGLISH WORK PRINTED ABROAD

CARTWRIGHT (Thomas). A Full and Plaine Declaration of Ecclcsiasticall
Discipline owt off the Word off God, and off the declininge off the
Churehe off England from the same. [Heidelberg] : Imprinted [by
Michael Schirat], M.D.LXXIIII. [1574] Small 4to. 18 x 14 cm.m
[12], 193, [3] p., [1] folded leaf of plates (complete per ESTC but
some copies some copies had an added table) Later full crushed blue
morocco, edges gilt; internally minor tears to inner margin of title
page, some toning, but generally a very handsome copy with the folding
table well preserved. A translation by, Thomas Cartwright, of: Ecclesiasticae disciplinae, et Anglicanae Ecclesiae ab illa aberrationis, plena è verbo Dei, et
dilucidà explicatio by Walter Travers. Place of publication and
printer's name from STC. Folded plate bears: A table or short view
off all ecclesiasticall discipline ordeined by the word off God.
Leaves b2 and 2B2 are blank. Signatures: a⁴ b² A-M⁴ N⁴(±N4) O-2A⁴ 2B².
Ref: TC (2nd ed.), 24184.

The printing of the this major manifesto of English presbyterianism at Michael Schirat's press at Heidelberg was almost certainly supervised by the radical Puritan John Field (a likely author of some of the famed Marprelate tracts), rather than Cartwright. Very Rare in commerce: RBH list no copies since 1972. ESTC appears to note 6 copies in US, but some such at the Folger copy
are "Imperfect: wanting sigs.a,b, and 2A4-2B2" and some others are
"Reproduction of the original in the Henry E. Huntington"

Thomas Cartwright was one of the earliest and most learned champions
of Puritanism, and he may be regarded as the founder of
Presbyterianism in England. On the accession of Elizabeth, he
returned to Cambridge, took his B. A. degree in 1567. His lectures
were so hostile to Episcopacy and the established customs of the
Church of England, that he came under the displeasure of the
Vice-Chancellor of the University, John Whitgift, a strong
Episcopalian; the result was that Cartwright was deprived of his
professorship in 1570, and of his fellowship in 1571. He now went to
Geneva, but was persuaded to return to England in the following year
(1572). On his return a bitter controversy arose between the Puritans
and Episcopalians, Cartwright championing the former and Whitgift the
latter. The Full and Plain Declaration of Ecclesiastical Discipline
sought to prove that a Presbyterian form of government, after the
Geneva fashion, was the true form of church government.

" In this work Travers discusses the proper calling, conduct,
knowledge, apparel, and maintenance of a minister, the offices of
doctors, bishops, pastors, and elders, and the functions of the
consistory. He severely criticised the universities, calling them '
the haunts of drones. . . monasteries whose inmates yawn and snore,
rather than colleges of students.' " (D. N. B.)