Richard Capel
Richard Capel (1586–1656) was an English nonconforming clergyman of Calvinist views, a member of the Westminster Assembly, and for a period of his life a practicing physician.
Life
He was born at Gloucester, the son of Christopher Capel, an alderman of the city, and his wife Grace, daughter of Richard Hands. His father was a good friend to ministers who had suffered for nonconformity. Richard was educated in Gloucester, and became a commoner of St. Alban Hall, Oxford, in 1601. He was afterwards elected a demy of Magdalen College, and in 1609 was made perpetual fellow there, being then M.A.[1]
During his residence at the university he was much consulted by Calvinists, and his pupils included Accepted Frewen and William Pember. In the reign of James I he attended at court on Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, and continued there till the death of his friend Sir Thomas Overbury. In 1613 he was instituted to the rectory of Eastington, Stroud, presented by Nathaniel Stephens.[2] In 1633, when the Book of Sports of James I was published the second time by royal authority, he declined to read it in his church, and voluntarily resigned his rectory where he was succeeded by William Mew.[3]
Capel obtained a licence to practise physic from Godfrey Goodman, the bishop of Gloucester. He now settled at Pitchcombe, near Stroud, where he had an estate. In 1643 he became a member of the Westminster Assembly. He died at Pitchcombe on 21 September 1656.[3][4]
Works
Capel was the author of:[3]
- God's Valuation of Man's Soul, in two sermons on Mark viii. 36, London, 1632.
- Tentations: their Nature, Danger, Cure, to which is added a Briefe Dispute, as touching Restitution in the Case of Usury, London, 1633,; second edition, London, 1635; third edition, London, 1636-7; sixth edition, consisting of five parts, 1658-55. The fourth part was published at London, 1633. The 'Brief Dispute' was answered by T. P., London, 1679.
- Apology in Defence of Some Exceptions against some Particulars in the Book of Tentations, London, 1659.
- Capel's Remains, being a useful Appendix to his excellent Treatise of Tentations, with a preface prefixed, wherein is contained an Abridgment of the author's life, by his friend, Valentine Marshall, London, 1658.[3]
He edited some of the theological treatises composed by his favourite pupil William Pemble (Pember), who died in his house at Eastington in 1628.[3]
Family
He married Dorothy, daughter of William Plumstead of Plumstead, Norfolk (she died 14 September 1622, aged 28). His son, Daniel Capel, M.A., was successively minister of Morton, Alderley, and Shipton Moigne in Gloucestershire; he was ejected from Shipton Moigne in 1662 for nonconformity, and he practised medicine at Stroud until his death.[3][5]
Notes
- ^ Cooper 1887, pp. 17–18.
- ^ Morgan & Smith 1972, pp. 135–138.
- ^ a b c d e f Cooper 1887, p. 18.
- ^ Hetherington 1878, Chapter 2.
- ^ Baggs, Jurica & Sheils 1976, pp. 140–141.
References
- Baggs, A. P.; Jurica, A.R.J.; Sheils, W.J. (1976), "Stroud: Nonconformity", in Herbert, N.M.; Pugh, R.B. (eds.), A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 11, Bisley and Longtree Hundreds, vol. 11, London: Victoria County History, pp. 140-141
- Hetherington, William Maxwell (1878) [1843], "Chapter 2", in Williamson, Robert (ed.), History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines
- Morgan, Kathleen; Smith, Brian S. (1972), "Eastington: Churches", in Elrington, C R; Herbert, N.M.; Pugh, R.B. (eds.), A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 10, Westbury and Whitstone Hundreds, vol. 10, London: Victoria County History, pp. 135-138
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cooper, Tompson (1887), "Capel, Richard", in Stephen, Leslie (ed.), Dictionary of National Biography, vol. 9, London: Smith, Elder & Co, pp. 17–18
- v
- t
- e
- John Arrowsmith
- Simeon Ashe
- Robert Baillie
- Thomas Baylie
- Robert Blair
- Samuel Bolton
- John Bond
- William Bridge
- Ralph Brownrigg
- Anthony Burges
- Cornelius Burges
- Jeremiah Burroughs
- Adoniram Byfield
- Richard Byfield
- Edmund Calamy
- Archibald Campbell
- John Campbell
- Richard Capel
- Joseph Caryl
- Thomas Case
- Daniel Cawdry
- William Cecil
- Francis Cheynell
- John Clotworthy
- Thomas Coleman
- John Conant
- Edward Conway
- John Cook
- Edward Corbet
- Robert Crosse
- Robert Devereux
- Robert Douglas
- Calybute Downing
- John Dury
- John Earle
- John Elphinstone
- Daniel Featley
- Basil Feilding
- Nathaniel Fiennes
- William Fiennes
- Thomas Ford
- Thomas Gataker
- George Gillespie
- John Glynne
- Thomas Goodwin
- William Gouge
- William Greenhill
- William Grey
- John Hacket
- Matthew Hale
- Henry Hammond
- Robert Harley
- John Harris
- Robert Harris
- Arthur Haselrig
- Alexander Henderson
- Philip Herbert
- Charles Herle
- Thomas Hill
- Richard Holdsworth
- Edward Howard
- Joshua Hoyle
- Archibald Johnston
- John Ley
- John Lightfoot
- Richard Love
- William Lyford
- John Maitland
- Stephen Marshall
- John Maynard
- William Mew
- Edward Montagu
- George Morley
- Matthew Newcomen
- William Nicholson
- Philip Nye
- Herbert Palmer
- Algernon Percy
- Andrew Perne
- William Pierrepont
- John Pym
- Edward Reynolds
- Robert Reynolds
- Henry Rich
- Francis Rous
- Benjamin Rudyerd
- Samuel Rutherford
- Robert Sanderson
- Henry Scudder
- Lazarus Seaman
- Obadiah Sedgwick
- John Selden
- Josias Shute
- Sidrach Simpson
- William Spurstowe
- Edmund Staunton
- Peter Sterry
- Oliver St John (1580–1646)
- Oliver St John (1598–1673)
- William Strode
- William Strong
- Zouch Tate
- Henry Tozer
- Anthony Tuckney
- William Twisse
- Henry Vane the Elder
- Henry Vane the Younger
- Richard Vines
- George Walker
- Samuel Ward
- Thomas Westfield
- Philip Wharton
- Jeremiah Whitaker
- John White
- Bulstrode Whitelocke
- John Wilde
- Henry Wilkinson
- Walter Yonge
- Thomas Young