John Philpot
Compton’s martyr, John Philpot, had a colourful career and crossed paths with many other characters with interesting and unusual stories, as we shall see.
The window was erected in memory of members of the Philpott family, which has been associated with Winchester and specifically Compton since the 14th century.
The most notable was John Philpot, scholar of Winchester College, and Fellow of New College, Oxford, who became Archdeacon of Winchester in the reign of Protestant King Edward VI.
After Edward’s death, and the brief reign of Lady Jane Grey, Edward’s elder half-sister Mary became queen. Mary had remained Catholic and began purging protestants. John Philpot lost his role as Archdeacon, was imprisoned, interrogated and eventually burned at the stake at Smithfield, for refusing to renounce his Protestant beliefs.
Sir John Philipot
The Hampshire Philpots trace their ancestry to Sir John Philipot, (d. 1384), a successful wool merchant, mercer and alderman of London. He had probably been born in the Isle of Grain on the Medway, around 1330.
He married three times, to women of high social status and wealth.
He was elected to parliament several times between 1369 and 1383, and sheriff in 1372-3. He was chosen to advise the King’s Council on how to protect merchant shipping in the war against France. This would have included trade with Calais, which had been under English rule since its capture by Edward III in 1347.
For 12 years from 1374 Geoffrey Chaucer held the lucrative job of Comptroller of Wool Customs for the Port of London. He would have known Philipot and two other influential merchants, William Walworth and Nicholas Brembre who were Collectors at the port during that time. All three would become Lord Mayor.
Such was his standing within royal and court circles as well as merchant ones, by 1377, that Philipot led the successful opposition to John of Gaunt’s plan to suspend the mayoralty and place the government of London in the hands of Henry Percy, Constable and Marshal of England.
In 1377, when 14 year-old Richard II acceded to the throne on the death of his grandfather Edward III, Philipot led a deputation from the City to assure the new king of their loyalty. He also sought conciliation with John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.
In 1376 John Mercer, a wealthy Scottish merchant and friend of the French king, had been shipwrecked off the coast of Northumbria. His merchandise was seized, and he was imprisoned in Scarborough Castle. Although Mercer had been released unharmed in 1377, his son Andrew sought retaliation in 1378. He assembled a fleet of Scottish, Flemish and French privateers which attacked and plundered the town of Scarborough and captured the English ships in the harbour.
John Philipot led a daring raid by fitting out and equipping, at his own expense, a small squadron of ships and a thousand armed men who recovered the ships and booty, and also captured fifteen Spanish merchant vessels.
This unauthorised expedition did not go over very well with the noblemen of the day, who complained to the King that he was usurping his power, but its popularity with the people led to his election as Lord Mayor of London for 1378–9.
In June 1381 Philipot, along with Walworth (then Lord Mayor) and Brembre, and one Robert Launde were knighted on the spot by Richard II for their part in bringing the Peasant’s Revolt to an end with the death of its leader, Wat Tyler. Tyler had tried to stab Walworth, who was saved by his chain-mail; Walworth struck back and although his blow may or may not have proved fatal, Tyler was caught and beheaded.
Philipot’s generosity included lending money to the crown, providing ships for and funding the Earl of Buckingham’s expedition to Brittany, building one of the two 60ft stone towers erected in the Thames to defend shipping, and leaving property for the benefit of the City of London.
He died in 1384 and was buried in Christ Church, Greyfriars. Only the most important citizens or those with royal blood were buried there.
In the early 14th century, an impressive new church had been built on the site of the 12th century Franciscan monastery. The new church was the second biggest church in the City of London, with its own university and library.
Greyfriars church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666; it was replaced by a smaller church as part of Sir Christopher Wren’s rebuild of the City. It was almost completely destroyed again in the Blitz. The tower and some walls still stand and the site is now a memorial garden.
The Philpot Family
The chain of descendants which leads to Archdeacon John Philpott can be found on various genealogy websites, and on the 1620 illustrated Philpot family tree in the Hampshire Archives, but details seem to be vague and in some places are definitely incorrect.
- Sir John Philipot, Lord Mayor of London, 1330-1384 b. Kent, d. London
- Sir John Philpot, “Knight of Compton”, b. 1370
- Sir John Philpot, Sheriff of Hampshire, 1430-1484
- John Philpot, Sheriff of Hampshire, 1460-1502, b. Compton Hants
- Sir Peter Philpot, Sheriff of Hampshire, 1488-1540, b. London, d. Compton Hants
- Archdeacon John Philpott, 1515-1555, b. Compton, Hants, Martyred at Smithfield
Drew states
The Philpotts were descended from Sir John Philpott who was Lord Mayor of London in 1378, and they held land also in Pitt, Durley, Bishopstoke and near Lymington, as well as manors in Middlesex and Herts and much house property in the city of London.
This was the first time that a really wealthy family had come to Compton and one wonders at what period they built the house at Compton Place which was eventually pulled down at the beginning of the 18th century.
We shall find that the earlier Philpotts had many virtues, but that regard for the rights of other people was not one of them.
Sir Richard Whittington
to come
Archdeacon John Philpot
to come
Bishop Stephen Gardiner
to come
Bishop John Ponet
to come
Diocesan Registrar John Cooke (or Cook)
to come
Bishop Edmund “Bloody” Bonner
to come
JS Drew writes:
Whitaker writes:
References
- General
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – free access if you have a Hampshire Library card
- Compton near Winchester – being an Enquiry into the History of a Hampshire Parish; J S Drew, published 1939 by Warren and Sons, Winchester
- Compton & Shawford, by Austin Whitaker, ©1985, Published by Barbara Large & Austin Whitaker
- Winchester Cathedral Stained Glass, Mary Callé. Published by the Friends of Winchester Cathedral.
- Lives of Eminent and Illustrious Englishmen, from Alfred the Great to the Latest Times, edited by George Godfrey Cunningham, Vol I 1836, Vol II 1837. Available as an ebook from Google Books, and in hard copy from various sources.
- A History of England in the Lives of Englishmen, Edited by George Godfrey Cunningham, vol. I 1853. Also available as an ebook from Google Books, and in hard copy from various sources.
- Archdeacon John Philpot
- John Philpot, Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Philpot
- Foxe’s Book of Martyrs John Philpot
- The Examinations and Writings of John Philpot, B.C.L. Archdeacon of Winchester, from Google Play Books
- Christianity.com: Because John Philpot Didn’t Run, He Burned
- Philpot, John (DNB00)
- Sir John Philipot
- Philipot, John (d.1384) (DNB00)
- British History Online : Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: H, 1375-1399 – Introduction
- British History Online: the Borough of Scarborough
- The Chronica Maiora of Thomas Walsingham, 1376-1422
- Mercer Millions website: Sir Andrew Mercer
- The Old Scots Navy on Mercer
- Delphi Classics: The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
- Wikipedia List of Lord Mayors of London
- Geni.com Sir John Philpot, Lord Mayor of London
- Catalogue of the tombs in the churches of the city of London, A.D. 1666. By Major Payne Fisher, B.A
- Sir Richard (Dick) Whittington
- Bishop Stephen Gardiner
- Bishop Edmund Bonner
- Bishop John Ponet (or Poynet)
