ABBOT, Robert (c.1560-1618)

The son of a prosperous Surrey clothier, Abbot was born and raised in Guildford. His parents were persecuted under Mary Tudor for their Protestant beliefs, and that experience undoubtedly influenced his own subsequent hostility towards Roman Catholicism.26 VCH Surr. ii. 345; Featley, 539-40. A promising student, he entered Oxford in 1577, securing his first degree in just 18 months, before becoming a fellow of Balliol College. However, he clearly saw his education as preparation for the ministry. The date of his ordination is not known, but from early 1587 he began preaching in and around Oxford, quickly acquiring a reputation for his eloquence in the pulpit.27 Al. Ox.; Featley, 540. This apparently brought him to the attention of the archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift^†, who recommended him for the rectory of All Saints, Worcester, a living in the queen’s gift. Abbot took up this post in 1589, and was almost immediately appointed the city’s lecturer as well. In 1594, following an encounter with a Catholic priest imprisoned at Worcester, he published his first book, A Mirrour of Popish Subtilties, a defence of Anglican sacramental doctrines, which he dedicated to Whitgift.28 CCEd; R. Abbot, A Mirrour of Popish Subtilties (1594), sig. A2r-v; Featley, 540.

Although Abbot later complained of the ‘incessant labour’ of ‘reading and preaching in the cathedral church and city of Worcester’, he found time to obtain two Oxford theology degrees. For his doctorate in 1596, he upheld Calvinist teachings on predestination, as laid down in Whitgift’s recent Lambeth Articles.29 R. Abbot, Wedding Sermon Preached at Bentley in Darbyshire (1608), sig. A3; N. Tyacke, Anti-Calvinists, 61. He evidently also visited London occasionally. A sermon delivered by him at Paul’s Cross so impressed the Nottinghamshire gentleman John Stanhope that in 1598 he presented Abbot to the living of Bingham. With far fewer responsibilities there than at Worcester, Abbot promptly engaged in tasks for ‘the common benefit of the whole Church’, by which he meant further publications.30 Featley, 540; Abbot, Wedding Sermon, sigs. A2-A3. His next book, The Exaltation of the Kingdom and Priesthood of Christ, was based on his old Worcester sermons. However, it was his Antichristi Demonstratio of 1603, an attack on the famous Catholic polemicist Cardinal Bellarmine, which really made his name, finding favour with such Anglican luminaries as Lancelot Andrewes^* (later bishop of Winchester).31 R. Abbot, The Exaltation of the Kingdom and Priesthood of Christ (1601); Antichristi Demonstratio, Contra Fabulas Pontificias Et Ineptam Roberti Bellarmini de Antichristo Disputationem (1603); Featley, 541.

As a result of his raised profile, Abbot was appointed to the York High Commission at the start of James I’s reign. At around the same time Whitgift nominated him to serve as a royal chaplain. Although the king took several years to act on this recommendation, he so admired Abbot’s Antichristi Demonstratio that, when a second edition was published in 1608, he ordered part of his own commentary on the Book of Revelation to be appended to it.32 P.E. McCullough, Sermons at Court, 106; Featley, 541-2. By then, Abbot had already launched into his most important work of controversy, the three-volume Defence of the Reformed Catholicke, a comprehensive response to the attacks by the Roman Catholic William Bishop on the Elizabethan Calvinist theologian, William Perkins. Abbot handled his brief ‘so learnedly, copiously, solidly and perspicuously’ that he further enhanced his reputation.33 R. Abbot, A Defence of the Reformed Catholicke of Mr W. Perkins (1606); The Second Part of the Defence of the Reformed Catholicke (1607); The Third Part of the Defence of the Reformed Catholike (1609); Featley, 545. Doubtless as a result, the king in 1610 appointed him a fellow of Chelsea College, a new foundation intended to foster the production of further anti-Catholic polemics.34 Fuller, Church Hist. v. 387, 390; A. Milton, Catholic and Reformed, 32-3. Abbot’s contribution to this project was his 1613 Antilogia, a justification of the execution of the Jesuit Henry Garnett for involvement in the Gunpowder Plot. The government considered this book so important that he was granted privileged access to the relevant state papers during its preparation.35 R. Abbot, Antilogia adversus Apologiam Andreae Eudaemon-Ioannis Iesuite pro Henrico Garneto (1613); M. Nicholls, Investigating Gunpowder Plot, 217.

Meanwhile, Abbot had returned to Oxford in 1610 as master of his old college, reportedly through the influence of the current archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft^*. Once back at Balliol, he made strenuous efforts to raise scholarly standards, ‘making always choice of the towardliest young men in all elections’, and leading by personal example in both academic exercises and religious observance.36 Featley, 543-5; Jones, 90, 92-3. Nevertheless, Abbot’s ambitions apparently continued to extend beyond university life, as he solicited from Prince Henry, to whom he dedicated his next book (another attack on William Bishop) a promise of further advancement in the Church.37 R. Abbot, The True Ancient Roman Catholike (1611); Featley, 545-6. However, the prince’s premature death in 1612 set back this ambition, as did his appointment that same year as Regius professor of divinity at Oxford. Abbot allegedly tried to decline this promotion, and had to be persuaded to accept it by his younger brother George^*, who had succeeded Bancroft as archbishop of Canterbury in 1611.38 Featley, 540, 546. In 1613 it was widely reported that he would fill an episcopal vacancy at Lincoln or Lichfield, but his hopes were dashed when Archbishop Abbot offended James I over the divorce case of Robert Devereux^*, 3rd earl of Essex.39 HMC Downshire, iv. 216; Chamberlain Letters, i. 478; C.S. Clegg, Press Censorship in Jacobean Eng. 205; Featley, 548.

Despite his reluctance to become Regius professor, Abbot held the post with distinction for three years, proving himself to be ‘admirably well read in the [Church] fathers, councils and schoolmen’, and a more moderate Calvinist than his two immediate predecessors in the chair.40 Ath. Ox. ii. 224-5; P. Heylyn, Cyprianus Anglicus (1668), 66. Even so, his hatred of Roman Catholicism remained undiminished, and he was constantly alert to any developments in Oxford which might help the popish cause, effectively acting as his brother’s eyes and ears in the university. In August 1612 he launched a personal attack on a Christ Church canon, John Howson^* (later bishop of Durham), who had dared to criticize that icon of English Protestantism, the Geneva Bible.41 Newsletters from the Archpresbyterate of George Birkhead ed. M.C. Questier (Cam. Soc. 5th ser. xii), 191-2. From 1613 he used his professorial lectures to condemn Arminianism, the Dutch theological movement which qualified key tenets of Calvinism.42 Tyacke, 41, 72. When the president of St. John’s College, William Laud^* (later archbishop of Canterbury), voiced views that were arguably Arminian in February 1615, Abbot publicly challenged him to declare whether he was Protestant or Catholic, temporarily silencing him.43 Heylyn, 66-8. Four months later, he had Howson summoned before the king and Archbishop Abbot, once more accusing him of popish leanings. However, this proved to be a step too far. Unexpectedly, James opted for reconciliation between the rival Oxford camps, and the Regius professor was obliged to apologize for his attack on Laud.44 K. Fincham and P. Lake, ‘Ecclesiastical Policy of King James I’, JBS, xxiv. 194-6; SP14/80/113, 124.

Ironically, it was in the immediate aftermath of this setback that Abbot at last became a bishop. A vacancy had occurred at Salisbury in May 1615, whereupon Archbishop Abbot immediately pressed for his brother to be appointed. This proposal reportedly met with fierce opposition at court, but the primate persisted, finally securing the king’s agreement in July.45 Chamberlain Letters, i. 598, 610; Heylyn, 68; HMC Downshire, v. 284. Even then, the remarkable circumstance of a bishop being consecrated by his own sibling was delayed until the following December. When Abbot did homage to James shortly afterwards, the king joked: ‘I have had very much to do to make thee a bishop, but I know of no reason for it, unless it were because thou writest against [one], (viz. William Bishop)’.46 ‘Camden Diary’, 15; Featley, 548.

Although Abbot resigned as Regius professor prior to his consecration, he remained master of Balliol until the following spring, performing ordinations and institution ceremonies at Oxford and London in the interim. Not until June 1616 did he finally relocate to Salisbury.47 Wilts. and Swindon Hist. Cent. D1/2/20, i. ff. 1-4; ii. ff. 6-7. However, having taken up residence, he pursued his episcopal duties with considerable energy, preaching every Sunday if possible, and conducting his first visitation of the diocese in person. Notable for his hospitality to the rich and his generosity to the poor, he also sought to maintain good relations with his clergy, while insisting that the prebends of Salisbury fund a major restoration of the cathedral fabric.48 Fincham, 309; Featley, 548-9, 551. In general, he avoided direct involvement in disciplinary cases, one striking exception being a hearing in October 1616 when he ordered the disinterment of a convicted recusant who had been buried in an Anglican churchyard.49 Wilts. and Swindon Hist. Cent. D1/39/2/8, f. 49. Abbot evidently had a strong impact on his diocese, but his tenure proved short-lived, for in early 1618 he was struck down by kidney stones. In January that year he alienated his brother by marrying for a third time, barely two months after burying his second wife, but his haste was perhaps excusable given his declining health. Abbot was still active at the end of that month, writing to the Privy Council in support of Salisbury’s merchant community, but he collapsed a few weeks later.50 Chamberlain Letters, ii. 140; Featley, 549-50; APC, 1618-19, p. 28. In his nuncupative will, dictated in his final hours, he complained of poverty, in part attributable to the long illness of his late wife, and merely divided his estate three ways between his widow and his two children.51 PROB 11/131, f. 380v.

Abbot died on 2 Mar., and was buried in his cathedral. His anti-Arminian Oxford lectures were already in the press, and appeared later that year as De Gratia et Perseverantia Sanctorum.52 Ath. Ox. ii. 226; Chamberlain Letters, ii. 147; R. Abbot, De Gratia et Perseverantia Sanctorum (1618). Posthumously, his views on predestination helped to influence the English delegation to the 1619 Synod of Dort, which condemned Arminianism. Indeed, his scholarly reputation was such that, during the 1624 Parliament, the bishop of Norwich, Samuel Harsnett^*, cited Abbot’s works to defend himself against charges of popery. However, it was his close relationship with his more famous brother, and the contrasts between them, which ultimately preserved his memory the longest. As the antiquarian Thomas Fuller observed several decades later, ‘of these two, George was the more plausible preacher, Robert the greater scholar; George the abler statesman, Robert the deeper divine; gravity did frown in George, and smile in Robert’.53 Tyacke, 97; LJ, iii. 389a; T. Fuller, Worthies of Eng. iii. 210.