Francis Kett
Francis Kett (c. 1547–1589) was an
Life
Kett was born in Wymondham, Norfolk, the son of Thomas and Agnes Kett, and the nephew of the rebel Robert Kett, the main instigator of Kett's Rebellion.
Although Kett's father died while he was still a boy he was able to attend university thanks to support from his mother's second husband. After being admitted to Clare College, Cambridge in 1566, Francis graduated BA from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1570. After proceeding MA in 1573 he was elected a fellow of that college.[1] At some point he also entered holy orders.
In 1580 Kett resigned his fellowship and studied medicine, graduating MD in 1581, and in 1585 "Francis Kett, doctor of phisick" published 'The Glorious and Beautiful Garland of Man's Glorification, containing the godly misterie of heavenly Jerusalem', a book dedicated to Queen Elizabeth: and also in 1585 'An epistle [s]ent to divers [pa]pistes in England prouing [th]e Pope to bee the beast in the [1]3 of the Reuelations, and to be the man exalted in the temple of God, as God, Thess. 2.2 ...
However, in 1588
In late 1588 Scambler wrote to
...when he went to the fire he was clothed in sackecloth, he went leaping and dauncing: being in the fire, above twenty times together clapping his hands, he cried nothing but blessed bee God … and so continued until the fire had consumed all his nether partes, and until he was stifled with the smoke.
It has been suggested that Kett's unorthodox opinions might have influenced the free-thinking views of Christopher Marlowe, who was also a student at Corpus Christi. However Kett's time as Fellow only overlapped the arrival of the young Marlowe by three or four months.[2]
References
- ^ "Kett, Francis (KT566F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Park Honan, Christopher Marlowe, Poet and Spy, OUP, 2005, p. 79.
- Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
