The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cartwright Bishop of Chester 1634-1689

This is a biographical book about Thomas Cartwright, the bishop of Chester during the Glorious Revolution. Cartwright was chaplain to each of the three Stuart sons of King Charles I and followed the defeated James II to France, then Ireland, where Cartwright died. He was one of James II's most despised hatchet men, hated by his contemporaries because he supported a Catholicizing king, though he was Anglican himself. Cartwright was not the son of the great Thomas Cartwright of the previous century, called the Father of English Presbyterianism. Our Cartwright lost his father before he was aged 11, and his early life was influenced by his Presbyterian uncles and family friends. Arriving at Cambridge University in the days of the Cromwell commonwealth, Cartwright was advanced to Queens, Oxford through Parliamentary visitors, including influential friends of the family. After university his career was propelled through his distant relationship to his friend and mentor Henry Mordant, 2nd Earl of Peterborough. Cartwright was also distantly related to James II, through his first wife Anne Hyde. Though despised by many, Cartwright's attitudes and actions can be understood by his belief system. First he was an Absolutist (the king's will is above Parliament and people and therefore must be obeyed despite his religion). Second, Cartwright was Erastian: state rules over church, the king is higher than his bishops. The other bishops were royalists, but they believe in the conjoint rule of king and Parliament and the rule of constitutional law. Cartwright has been categorized as an ultra-right-wing Tory (Beddard). This in-depth study of Cartwright through his ancestors family networks and friends illustrates the main religious divisions that took place in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Britain. We see here the divisions between Roman Catholics and Protestants, Anglicans and Calvinists. Also, Gillian Ford discusses some of the inner wrangling between High and Low Church Anglicans (Anglo-Catholics and Latitudinarians) and disputes between Presbyterians and Independent Congregationalist. The Glorious Revolution brought not only the downfall of James II, but also the fall of Thomas Cartwright, once so full of promise in his youth at university. Through his family Gillian Ford has filled in the detail of his life and aspirations and opened the way to reinterpret his role on the losing side.