John Perrott - The Pope converter
Created | Updated May 2, 2006
John Perrott was a Pope converter... the Pope converter. He was born into an Anglican household sometime in the 1630's. His grandfather had been Sir John Perrott, the Viceroy of Ireland in Tudor times. Not very much is known about his early life... until 1655.
1655
This was the year John Perrott became a Quaker in Waterford city. This was the beginning of the long road that eventually led him to be known as "that mad Quaker preacher"
Eventually he became a preacher, and as a preacher he wanted to preach. So he went to Limerick. A last bastion of Cromwellism, he was promptly arrested and forced to sit through an Anglican sermon. Then when it was over... he then asked if he could debate the points. For some reason he was released a few days later.
Onwards to Rome
In 1658, after a few years of preaching1, he set sail for Italy. He saw the sectarian problems around him in Ireland and reasoned that the only way to end them was to convert the Pope.
On arrival in Venice... he was promptly arrested. Stripped, beaten and put in quarantined, but eventually he was, unexpectedly, released.
Rome!
He was arrested.
On his first day in Rome he was arrested by the City Marshal. He was stripped and put in prison. He was offered by the Inquisition good food, women of negotiable affection and alcohol. Then promptly beaten.
He was released!
Father John Prey
On his second day of freedom he managed to arrange a meeting with an Irish priest, John Prey. He thought he would at least be able to get him an audience with Alexander VII as he was the Popes Chaplin. John Prey was no friend.
He was quickly arrested. He spent three years in solitary confinement in a jail. Then, inexplicably, he was released. He was placed in a lunatic asylum known as the Bedlam2.
Homecoming.
Even though he never got near the Pope in his stay in Italy, the Pope did get word of him. To this day you can read in Alexander VII's diary about how one of his attendants told him about a mad Quaker trying to convert him.
He failed. But returned to England as a hero. He was regarded as a great man, a martyr for a cause. He toured around the country for a while until he returned to London and was arrested.
Barbados
He was eventually, and inexplicably, released again and decided to go to Barbados. He loved it so much he sent for his wife and children to come with him. He died in Barbados in 1665.
Why was he always released?
This is a question that everyone wants to know the answer to. There are several possible answers.
- God actually was on his side.
- He was too crazy to a threat.
- Altot of people in the protestant world thought him a hero.
- He was in Rome trying to convert the Pope. Crazy!
- He was the illegitimate great-grandson of Henry VIII
That last one may have caught you off guard. His grandfather had been Sir John Perrott, the Viceroy of Ireland. Sir John's mother was one Mary Berkeley, a serving girl. She was pregnant when she married a poor sheep farmer form northern wales called John Perrott. He was promptly knighted by the King. It is probable the Sir John Perrott was the bastard son of King Henry VIII, and it was because of this royal blood The preacher John Perrott survived his ordeals.
John Perrott an Irish eccentric and claimant to the English throne.
