WEBVTT 00:00:01.740 --> 00:00:03.640 Imagine, imagine for a moment that you're at 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:07.639 your job. Okay. And you decide to speak your 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:09.820 mind about how things are being run. Right, which 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:12.660 is always risky. Exactly. And boom, you were 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.089 immediately suspended. Oh, wow. Not just a slap 00:00:15.089 --> 00:00:17.789 on the wrist, either. You were completely stripped 00:00:17.789 --> 00:00:20.489 of your duties, your title, everything. That 00:00:20.489 --> 00:00:23.710 is brutal. Right. But then, instead of just packing 00:00:23.710 --> 00:00:26.269 up your desk and, you know, fading into obscurity, 00:00:27.129 --> 00:00:29.250 the national government itself steps in. Wait, 00:00:29.250 --> 00:00:31.050 the government? The national government. They 00:00:31.050 --> 00:00:34.210 step in. They give you your job back. They actually 00:00:34.210 --> 00:00:36.829 mandate that your controversial ideas be published. 00:00:36.909 --> 00:00:39.689 That's incredible. And then they proceed to promote 00:00:39.689 --> 00:00:42.299 you. to the absolute pinnacle of your field. 00:00:42.659 --> 00:00:44.299 So you're just sitting at the top of the world. 00:00:44.659 --> 00:00:47.899 Exactly. You're untouchable. Until a few years 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:50.399 later, a completely new government comes into 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:52.759 power. Ah, I see where this is going. Yep. And 00:00:52.759 --> 00:00:54.320 they strip it all away from you all over again. 00:00:54.460 --> 00:00:56.780 I mean, that sounds like the plot of a modern 00:00:56.780 --> 00:01:00.880 corporate thriller or maybe some tense political 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:03.799 drama. It really does. But this is actually a 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:07.219 true story from centuries ago. It is. Welcome 00:01:07.219 --> 00:01:10.079 to the deep dive. Today we're immersing ourselves 00:01:10.079 --> 00:01:13.200 in a really fascinating stack of historical sources. 00:01:13.620 --> 00:01:16.359 Specifically, we're looking at detailed biographical 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:19.019 records about a man named Henry Wilkinson. Right. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:22.280 He was an English clergyman who lived from 1610 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.920 to 1675. And our mission today is to look at 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:27.879 these records and see what they tell us about 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:30.920 resilience. Resilience, the nature of power, 00:01:31.260 --> 00:01:34.340 and standing your ground. Exactly. Because our 00:01:34.340 --> 00:01:37.599 goal here isn't just to recite a dry chronological 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:40.500 biography of a 17th century clergyman. No, nobody 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:44.299 wants that. Right. We want to use Henry Wilkinson's 00:01:44.299 --> 00:01:47.420 wildly fluctuating resume to truly understand 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:50.680 the chaotic whiplash of 17th century England. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:53.239 It was a very turbulent time. Very. This is a 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:54.799 story that walks us right through the Commonwealth 00:01:54.799 --> 00:01:57.140 period and straight into the Restoration. Which 00:01:57.140 --> 00:01:59.180 shows us exactly how quickly the ground could 00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:01.159 shift beneath someone's feet. Oh, absolutely. 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:03.260 So for you. If you have ever felt like you were 00:02:03.260 --> 00:02:05.980 at the mercy of shifting corporate or political 00:02:05.980 --> 00:02:07.980 winds. Or if you've ever felt like the rules 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:09.979 of the game were changing faster than you could 00:02:09.979 --> 00:02:12.479 possibly keep up with. Yeah, Wilkinson's story 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:15.460 of absolute survival is gonna deeply resonate. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:17.740 Okay, let's unpack this. Let's start at the very 00:02:17.740 --> 00:02:19.840 beginning of his academic journey, because the 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:23.280 records immediately hit us with a, well, a rather 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.520 unusual timeline. They really do. He matriculates 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:30.780 at Magdalen Hall, Oxford on February 14th, 1623. 00:02:31.050 --> 00:02:32.729 Right, and I'm looking at the dates here and 00:02:32.729 --> 00:02:35.169 doing the math. It feels almost like a misprint. 00:02:35.530 --> 00:02:38.330 It's quite shock. Because he was born in 1610, 00:02:38.449 --> 00:02:40.389 so that means he was 12 years old when he went 00:02:40.389 --> 00:02:42.849 to Oxford. 12 years old, yes. Hold on, was that 00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:45.789 standard for the 1620s, or was he just a massive 00:02:45.789 --> 00:02:48.789 outlier? It was exceptionally young, even for 00:02:48.789 --> 00:02:51.030 the 17th century. Okay, so it wasn't the norm. 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:53.599 Not at all. I mean, universities back then did 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:56.099 admit younger students than we see today, often 00:02:56.099 --> 00:02:59.740 teenagers, but 12 is still strictly prodigy territory. 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:02.360 That's wild. And he wasn't just sent there to 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:04.280 sit in the back of the room and grow up, either. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:08.020 He progressed at a phenomenal rate. So he's essentially 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:11.300 a verified child genius. Basically, yes. He gets 00:03:11.300 --> 00:03:14.360 his Bachelor of Arts in November 1626. Making 00:03:14.360 --> 00:03:17.860 him just 16. 16. And then he grabs his master 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:22.460 of arts in June 1629 at 19. Barely an adult. 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:25.560 And he secures his bachelor divinity by November 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:29.759 1638. So he essentially grows up entirely within 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:32.379 the academic and religious ecosystem of Oxford. 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:35.979 Right. By his late 20s, he is deeply embedded 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:38.259 in that world. He's a fixture there. Exactly. 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:41.080 He's preaching in and about Oxford, building 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:43.860 a life, establishing a formidable reputation 00:03:43.860 --> 00:03:46.240 within the institution. Which brings us to the 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:48.620 inciting incident of his entire life story. The 00:03:48.620 --> 00:03:51.500 big pivot point. Yes. It happens on a very specific 00:03:51.500 --> 00:03:55.659 day, September 6, 1640. A crucial date. Wilkinson 00:03:55.659 --> 00:03:58.740 is preaching a sermon at St. Mary's. And instead 00:03:58.740 --> 00:04:01.039 of delivering a safe, conventional message. Which 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:03.280 he easily could have done. Right. Instead of 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:05.780 that. He goes on the offensive. He preaches a 00:04:05.780 --> 00:04:08.180 sermon actively attacking some of the established 00:04:08.180 --> 00:04:11.000 ceremonies of the church. What exactly is the 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:13.080 big deal here? I mean, why would attacking church 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:15.979 ceremonies cause such a massive uproar? Well, 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.939 if we connect this to the bigger picture, we 00:04:17.939 --> 00:04:19.779 really have to understand the stakes of what 00:04:19.779 --> 00:04:23.259 he was doing. In 1640, the religious and political 00:04:23.259 --> 00:04:25.779 tensions in England were at an absolute boiling 00:04:25.779 --> 00:04:27.620 point. leading right up to the English Civil 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:30.360 War. Exactly. The ceremonies he was attacking 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:32.660 weren't just aesthetic choices. They weren't 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:35.759 just about how the service looked. No. They represented 00:04:35.759 --> 00:04:38.680 the core authority of the Church of England and 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:41.480 the King himself. Oh, wow. So speaking out against 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:44.500 them was incredibly risky. It was essentially 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:47.560 putting a giant target on your own back. Because 00:04:47.560 --> 00:04:49.860 you're challenging the very fabric of the establishment. 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:53.339 Precisely. As an impartial observer looking back, 00:04:53.689 --> 00:04:56.610 You can see how precarious this was. He was stepping 00:04:56.610 --> 00:05:00.389 into a highly charged political minefield. And 00:05:00.389 --> 00:05:02.870 the establishment did not hesitate to hit that 00:05:02.870 --> 00:05:05.389 target. Not at all. The punishment was immediate 00:05:05.389 --> 00:05:08.250 and devastating. The records say Wilkinson was 00:05:08.250 --> 00:05:10.250 suspended from his divinity lecture and from 00:05:10.250 --> 00:05:12.410 all his priestly functions in the university. 00:05:12.470 --> 00:05:14.470 They shut him down completely. And they gave 00:05:14.470 --> 00:05:17.579 him a clear ultimatum. He would remain suspended 00:05:17.579 --> 00:05:20.600 until he agreed to recant. They wanted a public 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:23.660 retraction. They wanted him to admit he was wrong, 00:05:23.939 --> 00:05:26.360 to bow to the established authority. Which is 00:05:26.360 --> 00:05:29.139 such a classic institutional move. It really 00:05:29.139 --> 00:05:31.439 is. It's fascinating to see how institutional 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:34.360 power operates during these ideological conflicts. 00:05:34.860 --> 00:05:37.639 The first instinct is almost always to isolate 00:05:37.639 --> 00:05:41.040 the dissenting voice and demand absolute submission. 00:05:41.379 --> 00:05:43.740 The Henry Wilkinson does not submit. No, he does 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:46.160 not. Instead of apologizing, instead of backing 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:48.319 down to save his hard -earned career at Oxford, 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:51.240 he doubles down. He goes all in. He takes his 00:05:51.240 --> 00:05:53.259 case over the heads of the university authorities 00:05:53.259 --> 00:05:55.579 and appeals directly to the long parliament. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:59.240 A huge risk. Now, I hear that term a lot in English 00:05:59.240 --> 00:06:02.680 history. What exactly makes it the Long Parliament, 00:06:02.819 --> 00:06:05.600 and why would he bypass his bosses to go to them? 00:06:05.759 --> 00:06:08.399 It's a very crucial move. The Long Parliament 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.959 was convened by King Charles I in 1640, but it 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:14.480 quickly became radically opposed to the King's 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:16.839 absolute power. Right. It's called long because 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:19.160 it actually passed an act stating it could not 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:21.120 be dissolved without its own members agreement. 00:06:21.560 --> 00:06:23.860 Ah, so they locked themselves in. Exactly. Meaning 00:06:23.860 --> 00:06:26.660 it sat for years and years fundamentally altering 00:06:26.660 --> 00:06:29.420 the balance of power in England. So by appealing 00:06:29.420 --> 00:06:32.939 to them, Wilkinson is aligning himself with the 00:06:32.939 --> 00:06:35.759 rising political force. Yes, a force that is 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:37.759 actively challenging the traditional establishment 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:40.019 that just suspended him. And it is a massive 00:06:40.019 --> 00:06:42.540 gamble. It's huge. But it pays off in a way that 00:06:42.540 --> 00:06:44.589 is almost hard to believe. Here's where it gets 00:06:44.589 --> 00:06:48.310 really interesting. It does. By December 1640, 00:06:48.569 --> 00:06:51.329 just a few months after his devastating suspension, 00:06:51.870 --> 00:06:54.750 he achieves total vindication. Complete turnaround. 00:06:55.110 --> 00:06:57.389 The committee of religion of that parliamentary 00:06:57.389 --> 00:07:00.209 body completely restores him. But they don't 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:02.930 stop there. No. They don't just quietly slide 00:07:02.930 --> 00:07:04.689 him his job back and tell him to keep his head 00:07:04.689 --> 00:07:08.050 down. They actively order his controversial sermon 00:07:08.050 --> 00:07:10.490 to be printed. It is the ultimate endorsement. 00:07:10.569 --> 00:07:13.709 The very words that got him exiled are now being 00:07:13.709 --> 00:07:16.370 mass produced and validated by the national government. 00:07:16.470 --> 00:07:19.050 It's an incredible flex. It is. And this moment 00:07:19.050 --> 00:07:22.129 kicks off a meteoric rise to power during the 00:07:22.129 --> 00:07:23.889 Commonwealth period. That's the era after the 00:07:23.889 --> 00:07:26.110 Civil War, right? Right. When England was a republic 00:07:26.110 --> 00:07:29.649 without a king governed essentially by parliament. 00:07:30.050 --> 00:07:32.610 So he just rides that wave. He moves to London. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:35.699 He is appointed minister of St. Faith's under 00:07:35.699 --> 00:07:38.319 St. Paul's. A very prominent spot. Then he's 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:40.420 chosen to be a member of the Westminster Assembly. 00:07:40.639 --> 00:07:44.839 Which was a massive, highly influential council 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:47.259 of theologians appointed to restructure the Church 00:07:47.259 --> 00:07:49.319 of England. So he's right in the room where it 00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:51.939 happens. He is suddenly operating at the very 00:07:51.939 --> 00:07:55.120 center of religious influence in the entire country. 00:07:55.300 --> 00:07:59.000 And the promotions just keep rolling in. In 1645, 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:01.240 he becomes the rector of St. Dunstan's in the 00:08:01.240 --> 00:08:04.860 East. Another step up. And then, in 1646, the 00:08:04.860 --> 00:08:07.740 story comes full circle. The long parliament 00:08:07.740 --> 00:08:10.319 dispatches him back to Oxford. The triumphant 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:13.139 return. He returns as one of six preachers sent 00:08:13.139 --> 00:08:15.800 by the parliament. He has chosen a senior fellow 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:19.199 of Magdalen, and he is deputed as a parliamentary 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:21.579 visitor. Just think about the psychology of that 00:08:21.579 --> 00:08:23.920 return. It must have been staggering. The man 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.399 who was suspended and kicked out of his priestly 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:29.199 functions in Oxford is now walking back through 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:32.159 those gates as a supreme authority figure. Backed 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:33.899 by the full weight of the national parliament. 00:08:34.059 --> 00:08:36.600 Exactly. And it gets even more pronounced. In 00:08:36.600 --> 00:08:40.100 April 1648, he is appointed canon of Christchurch. 00:08:40.340 --> 00:08:43.960 Right. And he gets this position. upon the expulsion 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:47.000 of a Dr. Thomas Isles. He literally takes the 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:49.299 seat of someone who is pushed out. Then he has 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:52.840 created a Dr. Divinity in 1649 and elected Lady 00:08:52.840 --> 00:08:55.639 Margaret Professor Divinity in 1652. Which is 00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.639 a massive deal. He holds that highly prestigious 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:02.120 office for a decade until 1662. And within that 00:09:02.120 --> 00:09:05.600 decade of immense power, we hit an event in 1654 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:08.240 that requires us to pause and look at this critically. 00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:11.059 Oh, definitely. Wilkinson serves on a commission 00:09:11.059 --> 00:09:13.990 in Oxfordshire. and the stated purpose of this 00:09:13.990 --> 00:09:17.429 commission, ejecting scandalous ministers. Wow. 00:09:18.250 --> 00:09:21.049 You just cannot write a better or more ironic 00:09:21.049 --> 00:09:23.690 plot twist. You really can't. The man who was 00:09:23.690 --> 00:09:26.029 penalized, suspended, and pressured to recant 00:09:26.029 --> 00:09:29.289 his own beliefs just 14 years earlier is now 00:09:29.289 --> 00:09:31.350 sitting on a commission deciding which other 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:33.110 ministers should be ejected from their posts. 00:09:33.350 --> 00:09:35.610 We can praise his resilience, but we also have 00:09:35.610 --> 00:09:38.350 to look at the massive irony here. We do. It's 00:09:38.350 --> 00:09:40.750 striking. The moment he gets power, he uses the 00:09:40.750 --> 00:09:43.190 exact same institutional tools of discipline 00:09:43.190 --> 00:09:46.009 to punish ideological opponents that were used 00:09:46.009 --> 00:09:48.350 against him. The outsider becomes the ultimate 00:09:48.350 --> 00:09:50.990 insider. The punish becomes the punisher. It's 00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:54.070 a perfect encapsulation of how cyclical political 00:09:54.070 --> 00:09:56.970 purges can be. When the oppressed become the 00:09:56.970 --> 00:09:59.690 oppressors, they often utilize the same bureaucratic 00:09:59.690 --> 00:10:02.549 machinery. Impartially speaking, it's a very 00:10:02.549 --> 00:10:05.429 common historical pattern. It really is a profound 00:10:05.429 --> 00:10:08.980 lesson in how human nature handles power. Absolutely. 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:12.019 Now, I want to take a brief detour from the heavy 00:10:12.019 --> 00:10:14.620 political maneuvering. OK, let's do it. Because 00:10:14.620 --> 00:10:16.879 the historical records give us some wonderful 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:20.299 insights into his family tree that group these 00:10:20.299 --> 00:10:24.259 larger than life figures into recognizable everyday 00:10:24.259 --> 00:10:27.179 dynamics. Yes, the records provide this incredible 00:10:27.179 --> 00:10:31.419 picture of 17th century academic dynasties. And 00:10:31.419 --> 00:10:33.840 it starts with a rather practical workplace problem 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:36.419 they faced at Oxford. Exactly. Henry Wilkinson 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:38.899 becomes a huge figure at Oxford, but there was 00:10:38.899 --> 00:10:41.399 a slight issue. He wasn't the only one. He wasn't 00:10:41.399 --> 00:10:43.779 the only Henry Wilkinson walking around campus. 00:10:44.620 --> 00:10:46.759 There was another prominent Henry Wilkinson, 00:10:46.779 --> 00:10:49.580 born a few years later in 1616. So what did they 00:10:49.580 --> 00:10:52.500 do? Well, to distinguish between the two in the 00:10:52.500 --> 00:10:55.840 dining halls or in meetings, our Henry Wilkinson, 00:10:55.899 --> 00:10:58.200 the Lady Margaret Professor, was known around 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:01.679 Oxford as Long Harry, or sometimes just Senior. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:03.899 Long Harry? And the other Henry was known as 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:07.440 Dean Harry. It's such a relatable detail. It 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.240 completely bridges the gap between this dusty 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.840 formal history and the reality of everyday human 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.080 life. It really does. They were just colleagues 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:18.360 trying to figure out which Henry someone was 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:20.240 writing to about a committee meeting. Oh, you 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:22.600 mean Long Harry, not Dean Harry. I love it. It's 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:25.360 great. And Long Harry came from quite the impressive 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.559 lineage himself. He was born on March 4, 1610 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:31.539 in Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire. Right. And his 00:11:31.539 --> 00:11:34.090 father... Also named Henry Wilkinson, referred 00:11:34.090 --> 00:11:37.090 to as the Elder. Another Henry. Another Henry. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:39.240 He was a heavy hitter in his own right. Yes. 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:41.940 His father wasn't just a casual local clergyman. 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:44.980 He was deeply entrenched in the religious debates 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:47.559 of his day. Very active. He was an elected fellow 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.480 of Merton College Oxford back in 1586. Wow. He 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:54.360 served as the rector of Waddesdon for over four 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:58.919 decades, from 1601 until his death in 1647. He 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:01.340 was even chosen as one of the Westminster divines 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:04.179 in 1643. So the apple doesn't fall far from the 00:12:04.179 --> 00:12:06.960 tree. Not at all. The Elder Henry was also a 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:09.899 published author. He wrote a book called A Catechism, 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:12.159 which was so popular, went to a fourth edition 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:15.840 in London by 1637. That's a bestseller for the 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.679 time. And he wrote another work called The Debt 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:22.440 Book in 1625. So R. Henry, Long Harry. essentially 00:12:22.440 --> 00:12:25.279 grew up in the epicenter of theological scholarship. 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:27.600 And it wasn't just his father's side that had 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:30.539 influence. His mother was Sarah, the daughter 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:33.240 of Arthur Wake, and she was the sister of Sir 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:35.700 Isaac Wake, who is a prominent diplomat. OK, 00:12:35.700 --> 00:12:38.200 so very well connected. Extremely. This is a 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:40.559 large influential family. Longhair was one of 00:12:40.559 --> 00:12:43.500 nine children, actually, six sons and three daughters. 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:45.220 And he goes on to build a family of his own. 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:47.940 The historian Anthony A. Wood notes that Henry 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:51.159 married, and he uses this very specific slightly 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:53.730 dramatic phrasing. What does he say? He says 00:12:53.730 --> 00:12:57.470 he married a woman called the Lady Carr. A wonderfully 00:12:57.470 --> 00:13:00.230 mysterious phrasing. Right, but we do know from 00:13:00.230 --> 00:13:03.149 his will that they had three children of their 00:13:03.149 --> 00:13:06.379 own, one son and two daughters. These small domestic 00:13:06.379 --> 00:13:08.679 details, the nicknames, the sprawling siblings, 00:13:08.860 --> 00:13:11.759 the marriage, they really help you as the listener 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:14.559 picture a real person living through all this 00:13:14.559 --> 00:13:17.500 massive historical turmoil. Definitely. It wasn't 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:19.759 just abstract political chess. He was raising 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:22.659 kids and dealing with workplace name confusion 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:26.039 while navigating a civil war. Which makes the 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:28.220 final act of his life all the more striking. 00:13:28.570 --> 00:13:30.909 because it brings a massive swing of the pendulum. 00:13:31.070 --> 00:13:34.129 It does. As we noted, power never stays static. 00:13:34.409 --> 00:13:36.429 No, it doesn't. The Commonwealth period eventually 00:13:36.429 --> 00:13:39.350 ends, and we enter the era known as the Restoration. 00:13:39.649 --> 00:13:42.570 Right, the Restoration in the 1660s. For anyone 00:13:42.570 --> 00:13:45.370 a bit rusty on their 17th century English history, 00:13:45.710 --> 00:13:48.230 What exactly is being restored here? The monarchy. 00:13:48.389 --> 00:13:50.750 The king is back. After years of England being 00:13:50.750 --> 00:13:53.269 a republic under parliamentary and military rule, 00:13:53.669 --> 00:13:56.269 King Charles II is invited back to take the throne. 00:13:56.610 --> 00:13:58.690 So the monarchy, the traditional Church of England, 00:13:58.870 --> 00:14:00.990 the old establishment, it all comes rushing back 00:14:00.990 --> 00:14:03.389 into power. And that changes absolutely everything 00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:06.149 for Henry Wilkinson. Overnight. The absolute 00:14:06.149 --> 00:14:09.850 peak of his career, his decade -long run as the 00:14:09.850 --> 00:14:12.779 Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity. It comes 00:14:12.779 --> 00:14:15.120 to a crashing halt. It's gone. When the restoration 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:17.519 hits, the new king's commissioners don't waste 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:21.779 any time. In 1662, they completely eject him 00:14:21.779 --> 00:14:24.019 from his professorship. The national backing 00:14:24.019 --> 00:14:27.120 he once enjoyed from the long parliament is just 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.500 gone. Evaporated. He is forced to leave Oxford 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:33.320 entirely. The institution he grew up in where 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:36.000 he was a child prodigy, where he reigned as a 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.000 supreme authority. It completely shuts him out. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:40.840 Yes. He loses the professorship. He loses Oxford. 00:14:41.320 --> 00:14:43.440 But what is so incredible is that he does not 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:46.159 retire. No, he doesn't. He doesn't go quietly 00:14:46.159 --> 00:14:48.320 into the country to live out his days in peace. 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:52.019 He adapts and he keeps going. What's fascinating 00:14:52.019 --> 00:14:55.610 here is his absolute refusal to quit. Yeah. He 00:14:55.610 --> 00:14:58.409 transitions into becoming a non -conformist preacher. 00:14:58.649 --> 00:15:00.850 Meaning what exactly? That meant he was preaching 00:15:00.850 --> 00:15:03.629 outside the rules and structures of the newly 00:15:03.629 --> 00:15:05.850 restored Church of England. Oh, risky again. 00:15:06.070 --> 00:15:08.710 Very. He moves around London, preaching first 00:15:08.710 --> 00:15:11.549 at All Hallows and Lombard Street and afterwards 00:15:11.549 --> 00:15:15.169 at Clapham. But this isn't the comfortable institutional 00:15:15.169 --> 00:15:17.269 preaching he did as a canon of Christ Church. 00:15:17.330 --> 00:15:20.210 Not at all. This is dangerous underground work. 00:15:20.509 --> 00:15:23.450 And we get a terrifying glimpse into this reality 00:15:23.450 --> 00:15:28.029 in August 1665. Yes, there's a record of a conventicle. 00:15:28.250 --> 00:15:31.029 A conventicle? A conventicle was an unauthorized, 00:15:31.350 --> 00:15:33.269 non -conformist religious meeting. They were 00:15:33.269 --> 00:15:37.509 illegal. Right. And in August 1665, a conventical 00:15:37.509 --> 00:15:40.470 of 60 or more persons to whom Wilkinson was preaching 00:15:40.470 --> 00:15:43.490 was actively raided and broken up at Camberwell. 00:15:43.730 --> 00:15:45.909 Imagine the scene and the psychological toll. 00:15:45.950 --> 00:15:48.029 It must have been intense. You were a man in 00:15:48.029 --> 00:15:50.529 your mid fifties. You used to be the Lady Margaret 00:15:50.529 --> 00:15:52.809 Professor of Divinity. You used to be on the 00:15:52.809 --> 00:15:54.730 governmental commission deciding who could preach. 00:15:54.909 --> 00:15:57.990 You were the law. And now you are holding a secret 00:15:57.990 --> 00:16:00.850 illegal meeting with 60 people and the authorities 00:16:00.850 --> 00:16:03.529 raid the place to shut you down. The sheer stress 00:16:03.529 --> 00:16:06.950 of that shift in status is profound. But again, 00:16:07.110 --> 00:16:10.610 he persists. He operates in the shadows for years. 00:16:11.429 --> 00:16:13.809 And eventually, he finds a loophole, or at least 00:16:13.809 --> 00:16:18.230 a temporary reprieve. Yes, in April 1672. After 00:16:18.230 --> 00:16:20.889 the Indulgence, he officially takes out a license. 00:16:21.730 --> 00:16:24.090 Wait, the Indulgence. Was the government suddenly 00:16:24.090 --> 00:16:27.169 feeling forgiving? What was that? It refers to 00:16:27.169 --> 00:16:30.110 the Royal Declaration of Indulgence in 1672. 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:33.600 King Charles II basically issued a declaration 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:36.299 that temporarily suspended the penal laws against 00:16:36.299 --> 00:16:38.559 non -conformists and religious dissenters. Oh, 00:16:38.580 --> 00:16:41.019 okay. It was a brief window where people like 00:16:41.019 --> 00:16:43.240 Wilkinson could legally register to practice 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:46.220 their faith outside the Church of England. And 00:16:46.220 --> 00:16:48.220 he jumps right on that. Immediately. On April 00:16:48.220 --> 00:16:51.159 6, 1672, he takes out a license for his house 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:53.600 or the schoolhouse at Clapham to be a Presbyterian 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.179 meeting house. Think about that trajectory. It's 00:16:56.179 --> 00:16:58.779 a long way down. He has gone from the grand chapels 00:16:58.779 --> 00:17:01.440 of Oxford and St. Paul's Cathedral to holding 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:03.899 licensed meetings in a schoolhouse in Clapham. 00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:06.799 It is a massive reduction in prestige, but it 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:09.420 allows him to continue his calling. He risks 00:17:09.420 --> 00:17:12.420 arrest. He faces being raided by authorities 00:17:12.420 --> 00:17:14.980 just to keep doing what he fundamentally believes 00:17:14.980 --> 00:17:18.000 he must do. It is a profound demonstration of 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:21.200 holding your ground. He remained a well -known 00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:23.400 preacher around London right up until the end. 00:17:23.500 --> 00:17:28.160 He died on June 5, 1675, either at Deptford or 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:31.140 Putney. And even in death, though, the records 00:17:31.140 --> 00:17:33.640 show us the massive respect he still commanded. 00:17:33.859 --> 00:17:35.859 Despite everything. Despite having been pushed 00:17:35.859 --> 00:17:38.519 to the margins by the King's commissioners years 00:17:38.519 --> 00:17:41.059 earlier. This final detail really got me. When 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:43.500 he died, his body was conducted by many hundreds 00:17:43.500 --> 00:17:45.940 of persons to Draper's Hall. Hundreds of people. 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:48.619 And from there to its burial in St. Dunstan's 00:17:48.619 --> 00:17:50.880 Church, hundreds of people turned out to honor 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.589 an outsider. And his legacy outlived him in print 00:17:53.589 --> 00:17:56.049 as well. Some of his sermons were published in 00:17:56.049 --> 00:17:59.230 Samuel Ansley's morning exercise in 1661 and 00:17:59.230 --> 00:18:02.529 in its supplement in 1674. So his words survived. 00:18:02.710 --> 00:18:05.130 His words, much like that highly controversial 00:18:05.130 --> 00:18:07.869 sermon back in 1640 that started it all, found 00:18:07.869 --> 00:18:10.230 a way to survive the shifting political tides. 00:18:10.450 --> 00:18:12.930 So what does this all mean? When we look at the 00:18:12.930 --> 00:18:16.069 life of Henry Long Harry Wilkinson, I think the 00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:18.769 key takeaway for you listening is this. Titles 00:18:18.769 --> 00:18:21.920 are fleeting. Institutional backing is temporary. 00:18:22.660 --> 00:18:24.980 Societal favor can vanish overnight with a change 00:18:24.980 --> 00:18:27.960 in management, a new government, or a shift in 00:18:27.960 --> 00:18:30.940 the cultural winds. But personal conviction remains. 00:18:31.740 --> 00:18:34.380 Yes. Wilkinson was the ultimate insider, and 00:18:34.380 --> 00:18:36.819 he was the ultimate outsider. But throughout 00:18:36.819 --> 00:18:39.019 all of it, whether he was in a cathedral or a 00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:41.619 Clatham schoolhouse, he never stopped preaching 00:18:41.619 --> 00:18:44.880 his core beliefs. It really is a story of incredible 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:47.650 endurance. And this raises an important question, 00:18:47.869 --> 00:18:49.950 a final provocative thought for you to ponder 00:18:49.950 --> 00:18:52.210 as we wrap up this deep dive. Let's hear it. 00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:55.390 Wilkinson was punished, elevated to supreme power, 00:18:55.750 --> 00:18:57.730 and then completely stripped of everything again, 00:18:57.930 --> 00:19:00.390 essentially for holding the exact same core beliefs 00:19:00.390 --> 00:19:03.109 throughout his life. Yeah. If the societal or 00:19:03.109 --> 00:19:04.950 professional winds completely shifted against 00:19:04.950 --> 00:19:07.210 you tomorrow, what are the core beliefs you would 00:19:07.210 --> 00:19:09.559 be willing to be ejected for? That's a tough 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:11.539 one. And more importantly, would you have the 00:19:11.539 --> 00:19:14.079 grit to start all over again, speaking your mind 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:16.420 in a schoolhouse? A brilliant question to leave 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:19.099 off on. Thank you for joining us as we explore 00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:21.960 the incredible, turbulent life of Henry Wilkinson. 00:19:22.279 --> 00:19:24.680 Keep digging, keep questioning, and we will see 00:19:24.680 --> 00:19:26.059 you on the next Deep Dive.