John Perrott - The Pope converter
Created | Updated Sep 5, 2006
John Perrott was a Pope converter... The Pope converter. He was born into an Irish Anglican household sometime in the 1630's. He was the illegitimate son of Sir John Perrott, the Viceroy of Ireland in Tudor times. Not very much is known about his 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. That really got them cross. But 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.
He left with another Quaker preacher called John Love. They travelled towards Italy over land. It is recorded that on the 12.8.1657 they entered a synagogue in Lyon and attempted to convert the congregation. They were arrested by Vatican officials in France and were questioned. They were released soon after
After this incident they decided it would be smarter to avoid Italy and the Pope for a while. They set themselves the slightly lower target of converting Mohammad IV, the Sultan of Jerusalem. Needless to say that went down well.
Eventually they were discouraged and headed once more for Italy
Italy
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.
His travelling partner, Love, was sentenced to death. Some sources say he was hung and others that he was tortured.
Perrott 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 Pope Alexander VII as he was the Pope's 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.
While returning home he was arrested.3 In France he accused the Catholic priests of worshiping Idols. He was released
He failed to convert the Pope. But returned to England as a hero. He was regarded as a great man, a martyr for a cause.
The Hat Controversy
When he came back to England he quickly sparked a religious debate between himself and another leading Quaker George Fox on whether a hat should be worn while praying or not. Perrott believed, and could quote religious passages, that a hat should be worn while praying. Fox believed the opposite. This lead to a split in the quaker community in England
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, where he would work as a civil servant and own a tobacco plantation
When he arrived in Barbados he took to very un Quaker like things. He smoked, drank, wore a sword, swore and dressed in fine clothes. He loved it so much he sent for his wife and children to come with him. He died in Barbados in 1665. He was broke and buried in a mass grave in a catholic grave yard.
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 be a threat.
- Alot 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 father 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.
