The other John Hart

Abstract

On 7 June 1574 a John Hart, the son of William Hart, received a doctorate in both civil and canon law at the University of Padua. At the ceremony—performed in the residence of the Count Palatine Marco Mantova Benavides—Hart was examined and promoted to the degree, after taking the required oath of Catholic faith. Witnesses to the ceremony included Sir Philip Sidney; Ralph Hopton, the son of Sir Owen Hopton, lieutenant of the London Tower and Sidney's companion; Griffin Maddox, Sidney's amanuensis; James Randolph, consiliarius and electionarius of the English nation, 1576–78; Richard Walker, a medical student; and Nicholas Wendon, a doctor of civil and canon law himself, and still archdeacon of Suffolk (notwithstanding his long-known Catholic sympathies, and his being an absentee to boot). Elsewhere I have identified this John Hart with the future missionary priest, with whom in 1582 John Rainolds held a celebrated conference in the London Tower. I grounded my conjecture on the facts that the name of Hart's father was indeed William and that Wendon and Hart had travelled together from the English College in Douay toward Rome, evidently via Padua. Nonetheless, doubt lingers. To the best of my knowledge, Hart never acknowledged owning a legal degree—nor did anyone else credit him with one. Further to note, an exact contemporary with the same name, titled 'doctor', resided in Rome in the late 1570 s, so that it may well have been this John Hart who had been awarded the Padua degree. While I am unable to fully resolve the matter, I hope that the presentation of the precious few surviving details concerning the 'other' John Hart might encourage further research into the career of this elusive recusant—who, I shall also suggest, may have ultimately reconciled himself to the Church of England.

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