John Frith - People He Encountered During His Life

People He Encountered During His Life

When John Frith first began his studies at Cambridge University; he was tutored by Stephen Gardiner, who later became the Bishop of Winchester. Gardiner instilled a “love of learning” in the young Frith, and developed a so-called great loyalty and admiration for the youth. In later years, this loyalty toward Frith ended when Gardiner and Sir Thomas More began to criticize the church, but stopped when they realized that they were only adding fuel to the fire of the heretics. Frith was called out of Cambridge to attend Oxford University by Thomas Wolsey, who personally gathered young men who excelled in learning and knowledge. Oxford was the first place in which Frith was apprehended and committed to prison under suspicion of being in favour of Luther’s doctrine. After this, Frith went to London where he made acquaintance with William Tyndale. Tyndale had a huge influence on Frith’s religious views, and the two encountered much danger for their stance on purgatory. The second time that Frith was imprisoned was when he went to see the Prior of Reading, a friend to whom he retreated when he ran out of money to live on. Upon arriving in Reading, Frith was taken for a vagabond and a rogue. Frith was arrested and put in the stocks. Frith was released with the help and persuasion of Leonard Coxe, who was schoolmaster in Reading, with whom he met and discussed topics such as education, Universities, languages, etc. Coxe went to the magistrates and got him freed because of his pity and admiration for Frith's intelligence and eloquence.

Sir Thomas More was the Chancellor of England at the time that Coxe had pushed for and gained Frith’s freedom from imprisonment. He issued a warrant for Frith’s arrest on a charge of heresy. Frith was sent to the Tower when he was caught trying to escape to Holland. While imprisoned in the Tower, Frith composed a book on his views of purgatory and presented it to a tailor named William Holt, a man whom made his acquaintance there. Holt made out to be a friend and supporter of Frith’s ideas, only to take the composition given him by Frith himself and bring it to the hands of More. Upon reading Frith’s book, More wrote his own composition in response. Later More would condemn Frith to death, eventually burning him at the stake.