Nicholas Ferrar | |
|---|---|
.jpeg) Nicholas Ferrar, from a portrait byCornelius Janssens, the original of which hangs inMagdalene College, Cambridge, alongside those of his parents. | |
| Deacon, Founder of the Little Gidding Community | |
| Born | (1592-02-22)22 February 1592 City of London,England |
| Died | 4 December 1637(1637-12-04) (aged 45) Little Gidding,Huntingdonshire, England |
| Venerated in | Anglican Communion |
| Feast | 4 December (Church of England), 1 December (Episcopal Church (US) andSouthern Africa) |
Nicholas Ferrar (22 February 1592 – 4 December 1637) was an English scholar,courtier and businessman, who was ordained adeacon in theChurch of England. He lost much of his fortune in theVirginia Company and retreated with his extended family in 1626 to the manor ofLittle Gidding,Huntingdonshire, for his remaining years, in an informal spiritual community followingHigh Anglican practice.[1] His friend the poet and Anglican priestGeorge Herbert (1593–1633), on his deathbed, sent Ferrar themanuscript ofThe Temple, telling him to publish the poetry if it might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul." "If not, let him burn it; for I and it are less than the least of God's mercies."[2] Ferrar published the verses in 1633; they remain in print.
Nicholas Ferrar was born in theCity of London,England[3] the third son and fifth child (of six) of Nicholas Ferrar and his wifeMary Ferrar (née Wodenoth). He is sometimes identified as Nicholas Ferrar the Younger while his father is identified as Nicholas Ferrar the Elder. Having been sent to a nearby school, he is said to have been reading perfectly by the age of five. He was confirmed by theBishop of London in 1598, contriving to have the bishop lay hands on him twice.[4] In 1600 he was sent away toboarding school inBerkshire, and in 1605, aged 13, he enteredClare Hall,Cambridge. He was elected a fellow-commoner at the end of his first year, took hisBA in 1610 and elected a fellow the following year.[5]
Ferrar suffered from poor health and was advised to travel to continental Europe, away from the damp air of Cambridge. He obtained a position in the retinue ofPrincess Elizabeth, daughter ofJames I who married theElectorFrederick V. In April 1613 he left England with the princess, not returning until 1618.
By May he had left the Court to travel alone. Over the next few years he visited theDutch Republic,Austria,Bohemia, Italy and Spain, learning to speak Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish. He studied atLeipzig and especially atPadua, where he continued his medical studies. He metAnabaptists andRoman Catholics, includingJesuits andOratorians, as well asJews, broadening his religious education. During this time Ferrar recorded many adventures in his letters home to his family and friends. In 1618 he is said to have had avision that he was needed at home, and so he returned to England.[6]
The Ferrar family was deeply involved in theVirginia Company of London. His family home was often visited by SirWalter Raleigh, half-brother of SirHumphrey Gilbert. Upon returning to London, Ferrar found that the family fortunes, primarily invested in Virginia, were under threat.
Ferrar entered theParliament of England, serving briefly as Member of Parliament forLymington in 1624, and worked withSir Edwin Sandys. They were part of a parliamentary faction (the "country party" or "patriot party") that seized control of the government's finances from a rival "court faction", and were grouped aroundRobert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick. The court faction supported SirThomas Smythe (or Smith), also a prominent member of theEast India Company. Smythe as treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 encouraged the governor to end evangelisation of Native Americans and expand tobacco culture.[7]
Ferrar wrote a 16-pagepamphlet criticising Smythe's management.[a] Smythe (as he spelt his name) was criticised by rivals for allegedly skimming profits, but an investigation revealed no wrongdoing and he continued to enjoy the support of the king.[9] The argument ended with the London Virginia Company losing itscharter after a court decision in May 1624.
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In 1626 Ferrar and his extended family left London and moved to the largely deserted village ofLittle Gidding in Huntingdonshire. The household centred on the Ferrar family: Nicholas's mother, his brother John Ferrar (with his wife Bathsheba and their children), and his sister Susanna, with her husband John Collett and their children. They bought the manor of Little Gidding and restored the abandoned little church for their use. The household always had someone at prayer and had a strict routine. They tended to the health and education of local children. Ferrar and his family produced harmonies of the Gospels that survive today as some of the finest in Britain. Many of the family also learned the art ofbookbinding, apparently from the daughter of a Cambridge bookbinder, whose style they worked in.[10][11]
In 1633 the poetGeorge Herbert, on his deathbed, sent themanuscript ofThe Temple to Nicholas Ferrar, telling him to publish the poems if he thought they might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul", and otherwise, to burn them. Ferrar arranged to publish them that year.The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1633) had gone through eight editions by 1690.[12]
Nicholas Ferrar died on 4 December 1637 aged 45, but the extended family continued their way of life without him. After his siblings John Ferrar and Susanna Ferrar Collett died in 1657 within a month of each other, the larger community began to disband.
Puritans criticised the life of the Ferrar household, denouncing them asArminians, and saying they lived as in a "Protestant nunnery". However, the Ferrars never lived a formalreligious life: there was no Rule, vows were not taken, and there was no enclosure. In this sense there was no "community" at Little Gidding, but rather a family living a Christian life in accordance with theBook of Common Prayer, according toHigh Church principles.
The fame of the Ferrar household was widespread, and attracted many visitors. Among them was KingCharles I, who visited Little Gidding three times. He briefly took refuge there in 1645 after theBattle of Naseby.
Nicholas Ferrar iscommemorated in thecalendar of theChurch of England on4 December, the date of his death.[14] In the calendar of theEpiscopal Church in the United States, theAnglican Church of Southern Africa and theChurch in Wales, he is commemorated on 1 December.
T. S. Eliot honoured Nicholas Ferrar in theFour Quartets, naming one of the quartetsLittle Gidding. The Friends of Little Gidding were founded in 1946 by Alan Maycock with the patronage of Eliot, to maintain and adorn the church at Little Gidding, and honour the life of Ferrar and his family and their place in the village. The Friends organise an annual pilgrimage to Ferrar's tomb, formerly held each July, but in recent years in May (the month when Eliot visited Little Gidding) and celebrate Nicholas Ferrar Day on the Saturday nearest to 4 December.
A new religious community was founded at Little Gidding in the 1970s, inspired by the example of Ferrar and called the Community of Christ the Sower, but it disbanded in 1998. ThePilsdon Community in Dorset was also based on Ferrar's Little Gidding model.[15]
The formerPoet LaureateTed Hughes was directly related to Nicholas Ferrar on his mother's side. Hughes and his wife, the poetSylvia Plath, named their sonNicholas Farrar Hughes. The family evidently used both spellings of the surname.[16]
Nicholas Ferrar is regarded as patron of theOratory of the Good Shepherd, an international Anglican religious community.
| Parliament of England | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forLymington 1624 With:John More | Succeeded by John Button John Mills |
