Nicholas Bernard

Nicholas Bernard^[1] (c. 1600–1661) was an Anglican priest and author^[2] during the 17th century.^[3] A dean in Ireland at the time of the Rebellion of 1641, he wrote descriptions of current events. He was also the biographer of James Ussher.

Nicholas Bernard
Born	c. 1600
Died	15 October 1661
Nationality	English
Education	Bachelor of Arts, Emmanuel College, 1620
Occupation(s)	Priest and author

Biography

Nicholas Bernard was born around 1600. He was educated at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelors of Arts in 1620.^[4]

In 1626, having migrated to Ireland, Bernard was ordained by Archbishop James Ussher,^[5] Archbishop of Armagh from 1625 to 1656,^[6] in St. Peter's church, Drogheda. He became Ussher's chaplain and librarian. In 1627 he became Dean of Kilmore, a titular position. He was incorporated at Oxford in 1628 as well as becoming the Rector of St. Peter, Drogheda.^[7] In 1637 he exchanged with Henry Jones the deanery of Kilmore for that of Ardagh, making him the Dean of Ardagh, he also became prebendary of Dromore. He continued to be the dean until 1641, when he had to flee to England during the rebellion.^[8]

He attended Bishop John Atherton, executed in 1640, in his last days, and wrote an account.,^[9] which became a popular chap-book. Atherton was convicted of sexual offences; there was a background in church politics, and historians believe that Bernard's writing points to the context behind the scandal, as well as being a tract on repentance.^[10]

In connection with the rebellion he wrote pamphlets, about the events in Drogheda and County Louth, and at Derry.^[11] In 1647 he preached in London, but came to the attention of the Committee for Plundered Ministers. They took exception to his not having a licence to preach, and Bernard spent time in the Fleet Prison.

He left Ireland around 1649, was appointed preacher of Gray's Inn in 1651, and became chaplain and almoner to Oliver Cromwell.^[12] When Ussher died in 1655, Bernard took care of the funeral expenses, and in 1656 published the Life and Death of Archbishop Ussher in a Sermon preached at his Funeral at Westminster, 1656. A further apologetical work on behalf of Ussher he published in 1657 mentioned Peter Heylin, who replied to both works. Bernard opposed the Laudian position, according to which the Papacy was not to be identified with the Antichrist.^[13]

In 1660 John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater as patron appointed Bernard rector of Whitchurch,^[12] and he declined to return to Ardagh. He continued to write, including a work on William Bedell. He died on 15 October 1661.

Published works

• 1640: The penitent death of a woeful sinner
• 1642: The whole proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda^[14]
• 1648: The still-borne nativity
• 1656: The life and death of the most reverend and learned father of our church, Dr James Ussher
• 1659: Certain discourses of Babylon
• 1660: Devotions of the ancient church in seven pious prayers
• 1661: Clavi trabales

Notes and references

1.   "Bernard, Nicholas". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
2. "Vindiciae Hibernicae; Or Ireland Vindicated." Carey, M p3: Philadelphia; R.P.Desilver; 1837
3. "Hobbes, Bramhall and the Politics of Liberty and Necessity: A Quarrel of the Civil Wars and Interregnum" Jackson, N.D. p223: Cambridge; CUP; 2007 ISBN 9780521870061
4. Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900, John Venn/John Archibald Venn Cambridge University Press > (10 volumes 1922 to 1953) Part I. 1209–1751 Vol. i. Abbas – Cutts, (1922) p91
5. "The life and death of the Most Reverend and Learned Father of our Church, Dr James Ussher" Bernard, N: London; E.Tyler; 17 April, 1656
6. "The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, D.D" Dublin: Hodges and Smith, 1847
7. 'Bennell-Bloye', in Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714, ed. Joseph Foster (Oxford, 1891), pp. 106–141. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/alumni-oxon/1500-1714/pp106-141 [accessed 1 January 2020].
8. "Fasti Ecclesiae Hibernicae: The succession of the prelates Volume 3" Cotton,H. p187: Dublin, Hodges & Smith, 1848–1878
9. The penitent Death of a woful Sinner, John Atherton [Bishop of Waterford], executed at Dublin the 6 December 1640. With a Sermon preached at the Funeral of the said John Atherton, Dublin, 1641.
10. Barry Richard Burg, Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition: English sea rovers in the seventeenth century Caribbean (1995), p. 8.
11. 1. The whole Proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda in Ireland, with a thankful Remembrance of its wonderful Delivery, raised with God's Assistance by the Prayers and sole Valour of the Besieged, with a Relation of such Passages as have fallen out there and in the Parts near adjoining, Dublin, 1642. 2. A Letter sent from Dr. Barnard [sic], Parson of Tredagh . . . wherein divers very memorable Passages twixt the King's Armies and the Rebels, 1641. 3. The whole Proceedings of the Siege of Derry, 1642. 4. A worthy Relation from Deane Bernard concerning . . . our Forces in the County of Louth, 1642.
12. The Conquest of Death: Violence and the Birth of the Modern English State" Lockwood, M p386: New Haven, Connecticut; University of Yale Press; 2017 ISBN 9780300217063
13. Anthony Milton, Catholic and Reformed: The Roman and Protestant Churches in English Protestant Thought, 1600–1640 (2002), p. 123.
14. 1736 edition