TheBrownists were a Christian group in 16th-century England. They were a group ofEnglish Dissenters or earlySeparatists from theChurch of England. They were named afterRobert Browne, who was born atTolethorpe Hall inRutland,England, in the 1550s. The terms Brownists orSeparatists were used to describe them by outsiders; they were known asSaints among themselves.^[1]

A majority of the Separatists aboard theMayflower in 1620 were Brownists, and thePilgrims were known into the 20th century as the Brownist Emigration.^[2]

The Brownists were eventually absorbed into theMennonite Church, while others joined theBaptist Church.^[3]

There had been early advocates of acongregational form of organisation for theChurch of England in the time ofHenry VIII. It became clear that the English government had other plans on the re-establishment of the Anglican Church, after the CatholicMary's reign, and these dissenters looked towards setting up a separate church.

The first wave of separatism from the Elizabethan Church of England came in London after March 1566, when Archbishop Parker enforced strict adherence to the Prayer Book and 14 ministers were deposed from office. Some of the most radical led their followers in forming theLondon Underground Church, meeting in secret locations. From possibly a thousand members at its height, this movement shrank, through imprisonment and deaths, to a small group of members in Browne's days. He andRobert Harrison knew of the London church, but seem to have believed it had died.

Robert Browne (d. 1633) was a student who became anAnglican priest late in life. AtCambridge University, he was influenced byPuritan theologians, includingThomas Cartwright (1535–1603).

Browne became a Lecturer atSt Mary's Church, Islington where his dissident preaching against the doctrines and disciplines of the Church of England began to attract attention.^[4] During 1578, Browne returned to Cambridge University and came under the influence ofRichard Greenham, puritan rector ofDry Drayton. He encouraged Browne to complete hisordination and serve at aChurch of England parish church. Browne was offered a lecturer position atSt Bene't's Church in Cambridge, possibly through Greenham, but his tenure there was short. Browne came to reject the puritan view of reform from within the Church, and started to look outside theestablished Church.

In 1581, Browne had become the leader of this movement and, inNorwich, attempted to set up a separateCongregational church outside the Church of England. He was arrested but released on the advice ofWilliam Cecil, his kinsman. Browne and his companions left England and moved toMiddelburg in theNetherlands later in 1581. There they organised a church on what they conceived to be the New Testament model, but the community broke up within two years owing to internal dissensions.

His most important works were published at Middelburg in 1582:A Treatise of Reformation without Tarying for Anie, in which he asserted the right of the church to effect necessary reforms without the authorisation of the civil magistrate; andA Booke which sheweth the life and manners of all True Christians, which set out the theory of Congregational independence. Two men were hanged atBury St Edmunds in 1583 for circulating them.

Browne was an active Separatist only from 1579 to 1585. He returned to England and to the Church of England, being employed as a schoolmaster and, after 1591, a Church of England parish priest. He was much engaged in controversy with some of those who held his earlier separatist position and who now looked upon him as a renegade. In particular, he replied toJohn Greenwood andHenry Barrowe several times.

He is buried inSt Giles's churchyard, Northampton.^[5]

The Brownist movement revived in London from around 1587, led byHenry Barrow andJohn Greenwood. Both were arrested in 1587 and kept in prison until their execution in 1593.^[6] They wrote numerous books of Brownist theology and polemic in secret during their imprisonment, which were smuggled out by their followers and printed in the Netherlands, the most important being Barrow'sA Brief Discoverie of the False Church. Dozens of other Brownists were imprisoned and many of them died in jail.^[7]

After the execution of Barrow and Greenwood, the Brownist church was led byFrancis Johnson.^[8] As a puritan minister, Johnson had been given the job of burning Brownist books, but kept one back for himself and was converted by it. To escape the fate of Barrow and Greenwood, the Brownists made an abortive attempt to settle inNewfoundland, before going into exile in Amsterdam.^[9] There the church was co-led byHenry Ainsworth and became known as the Ancient Church. Johnson and Ainsworth printed numerous works in Amsterdam which were smuggled into England.

Another wave of Brownism resulted from ArchbishopRichard Bancroft's campaign against puritanism from 1604.John Robinson andJohn Smyth founded Brownist congregations in the north of England^[10] and then led them to Amsterdam around 1608. This was the high point of the movement, with three sizeable Brownist churches, on good terms with each other, in one city. Smyth, however, broke away from Brownism to form the first Baptist church, Robinson responded by removing his church toLeyden, while Johnson and Ainsworth quarrelled with each other and formed congregations.^[11]

Johnson took his faction to Virginia, but few survived the journey. Smyth's church joined theMennonites, while a group of Baptists returned to London led byThomas Helwys. Half of Robinson's church sailed on theMayflower to New England.^[3]

The Brownists are mentioned inShakespeare'sTwelfth Night, believed to have been written around 1600–02, in whichSir Andrew Aguecheek says, "I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician" (III, ii).^[12] The Browne family seat of Tolethorpe Hall is now home to theStamford Shakespeare Company.^[13]

• History of the Puritans under Elizabeth I
• Pilgrim (Plymouth Colony)
• Religion Act 1592

• Thorne, J. O., ed.Chambers Biographical Dictionary (1969)

• English dissenters – Brownists — thisExLibris article has details about the Brownists