Nathaniel Brent
Sir Nathaniel Brent (c. 1573 – 6 November 1652) was an English college head.
Life
He was the son of Anchor Brent of
In 1613 and 1614 he travelled abroad, securing the Italian text of the History of the Council of Trent which he was to translate. In 1616, he was in
The influence of the Abbots secured Brent's election in 1622 to the wardenship of Merton College, in succession to
He had a house of his own in
In 1638 Laud held a visitation of Merton College, and insisted on many radical reforms. Laud stayed at the college for many weeks, and found Brent an obstinate opponent. Charges of maladministration were brought against Brent by some of those whom Laud examined, but he took no public proceedings against Brent on these grounds. His letters to the warden are, however, couched in very haughty and decisive language. The tenth charge in the indictment drawn up Laud in 1641 treats of the unlawful authority exercised by him at Merton in 1638. Brent came forward as a hostile witness at
On the outbreak of the
In 1647, Brent was appointed president of the parliamentary commission, or visitation, ordered by Parliament "for the correction of offences, abuses, and disorders" in the
On 17 May 1649, Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell paid the university a threatening visit, and malcontents were thenceforth proceeded against by the commission with rigour. But Brent grew dissatisfied with its proceedings. The visitors claimed to rule Merton College as they pleased, and, without consulting the Warden, they admitted fellows, Masters, and Bachelors of Arts. On 13 February 1651, he sent a petition of protest against the conduct of the visitors to parliament. The commissioners were ordered to answer Brent's complaint, but there is no evidence that they did so, and, in October 1651, Brent retired from the commission. On 27 November, following he resigned his office of Warden, nominally in obedience to an order forbidding pluralities, but his refusal to sign 'the engagement,' a statement of loyalty, was a probable cause of his resignation. Brent afterwards withdrew to his house in London, and died there on 6 November 1652. He was buried in St Bartholomew-the-Less.[1]
Works
In 1620 he translated into English the History of the Council of Trent by Pietro Soave Polano (i.e. Paolo Sarpi). A second edition appeared in 1629, and another in 1676, Archbishop Abbot had caused the Latin original to be published for the first time in 1619 in London.[1]
In 1625, asked by George Abbot, he republished the defence of the church of England Vindiciae Ecclesiae Anglicanae, first published in 1613 by
Family
Brent's daughter Margaret married Edward Corbet of Merton College, a presbyterian, on whom Laud repeatedly refused to confer the living of Chartham.[1]
References
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1886). "Brent, Nathaniel". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 6. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
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