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of

John Reynolds, merchant of Exeter,
author of "God's revenge against murther”

Devon & Cornwall Notes & Queries 6:2, (1910) pp.57-60, plates: port. [See preceding par.43; also vol.6, p.188].

by

W.U. Reynell-Upham

Prepared by Michael Steer

John Reynolds (c.1588–c.1655) was an English merchant and writer from Exeter. He produced a series of violent stories around marriage, adultery and murder, as well as some political writings that caused him to be imprisoned. Reynolds travelled in France on business, and was probably resident there from 1619. His pamphlets caused him to be extradited from France and imprisoned by James I of England in 1624. He married in 1626, again in 1644, and is recorded in 1655 but not later. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

43. JOHN REYNOLDS OF THE MINT IN THE TOWER. - Hazlitt, in his Handbook to Literature, attributes the works of John Reynolds, merchant of Exeter, to John Reynolds, of the Tower of London, who held an office in the Mint and published a small book on coinage in 1651. The State Papers show John Reynolds of the Mint busy at his occupation in 1607, as assistant to the assay master; 1609, master workman of the King's money ; 1640, a clerk in the Mint ; 1649, under assayer ; 1650, deputy assay master, and the same in 1659. Hazlitt, apparently, imagined the name Reynolds was a very uncommon one, for he also attaches the works of John Reynolds, the epigrammatist (of Bedford- shire) to the same John Reynolds of the Mint. John Reynolds, author of God's Revenge against Murther is distinctly stated to have been a merchant of Exeter, living at the time of the usurpation (Wood). It is evident that he could not have been John Reynolds of the Mint.                         W. U. Reynell-Upham.

44. JOHN REYNOLDS, MERCHANT OF EXETER, AUTHOR OF " GOD'S REVENGE AGAINST MURTHER." - "To the Right Worshipful his loving Father-in-law, Richard Waltham Esquire, and Justice of Peace and Quorum in the County of Devon: John Reynolds, your obedient Sonne wisheth as much prosperity as the gods can distribute or you desire." So runs the dedication of the "THE FLOWER OF FIDELITIE displaying in a Continuate Historie The various Adventures of Three Foraign Princes, by John Reynolds, Author of that Excellent Historie Entituled God's Revenge against Murther, London, Printed by T.M. and A.C. for George Badger and are sold at his shop in St. Dunstan's Church yard in Fleet street, 1650." {Vide copy in Brit. Mus., presented by King George III.)

Richard Waltham, the loving Father-in-law (old style for stepfather) was Richard Waltham, of Trehill, Kenn, Recorder of Exeter, who died 1632, so the dedication belonged to an earlier edition. Westcote gives Richard Waltham's first wife as Ann, d. of John Long, of Axminster, and widow of Reynolds, of Exeter. The Waltham-Reynolds marriage is recorded in the registers of St. Mary Major, Exeter : "1593, Ap. 16, Richard Waltam and Agnes Raynold." Ann, Annes, and Agnes were often used indiscriminately. The same register has the burial entry of Ann Waltham's first husband thus: "1592, May 9, Mr. Richard Reynolds was buried. "The long and interesting inventory of the goods of this Elizabethan merchant and citizen of Exeter is preserved in the City Archives, and among "The Leasses" of property in St. John's parish "where the said Richard late dwelled " is one conditioned on the lives of "Ane his wief, John and William his sonnes." His will was proved in London (P.C.C. 41 Harrington) 18th May, 1592, by ffrancis Clerk, notary public, for Ann, the relict and executrix. Testator names his sonnes John Renolle and William Renolle and daughter Elizabeth Renolls, who are to have one third of his goods according to the order of the orphans of the said cittie and £100 amongst them at 21. He remits debts due from his brother William Renolls and brother- in-law Thomas Spicer. Residue to wife Ann executrix. Overseers, William Helliar, parson of Dunchideock, and Edward Herte, three pounds apeece. Dated 1st April, 34 Eliz.

The relict Ann Reynolds marrying Richard Waltham in 1593 provided the orphans with a stepfather, or "loving father-in-law," as John Reynolds puts it in appreciation of Richard Waltham's kindness. "John Reynolls and Alice Bucknoll "were married at St. David's, Exeter, 27th April, 1626. They then disappear from view until 1635, the date when the whole six books of God's Revenge against Murther appear complete in one, with the separate dedications of each book and a special inscription of the whole "TO MY SACRED SOVERAIGNE CHARLES," etc. In 1635 John Reynolds and Alice his wife, with one or more young children, settled in the heart of the merchant quarter of Exeter, in the parish of St. Edmund on the Bridge, as shown by the following extracts from the registers of that parish: -

1635, June 21 John, s. of John Rennolls and of Alice, bd,
1635, Oct. 28 John, s. of John Rennolls and of Alice, bp.
1635, Dec. 10 John, s. of John Rennolles and of Allze, bd.
1636, Mch. 2 Nicholas, s. of John Rennols and of Alee, bp.
1639, Aug. 20 Elizabeth, d. of John Rennolls and of Alee, bp.
1641, Nov. 28 John, s. of John Rynnell and of Alee, bp.
1642, Ap. 10 John, s. of John Reynell and of Alee, bd.
1643, Mch. 3 A sonne of John Reynell, bd.
1644, Sept. 17 Alee, wyfe of Mr. John Reynell, bd.
1645-6, Feb. 3 Thomas, s. of John Reynell, bp.
1648, Mch. 4 Hanna, d. of Mr. John Reynell, bp.

St. Edmund's registers cease to mention him after this. He seems to have married again and to have removed to the adjacent parish of St. Thomas the Apostle, whose registers continue the story thus : -

1650, Dec. 19 John, s. of John Reynell, bd.
1652, May 16 James, s. of Mr. John Renell, bp.
1655, Feb. 18 Binieman, s. of Mr. John Renell, bp.

Alexander Hodges, Vicar of St. Thomas, Exeter, ejected 1662, went to Amsterdam and became minister of the English Church there. He very possibly arranged for the Dutch edition of "God's Revenge against Murther," which appeared at Amsterdam, in 1664. Hodges died at Amsterdam in 1689. I have not found John Reynolds' burial. Did he die at Amsterdam ?

In 1694 my ancestor, William Reynell, of St. Stephen's, Exeter, mercer, and Elizabeth his wife, late Elizabeth Steed (great) niece and executrix named in the will of Thomas Bucknoll, of Exeter, mercer, deceased, were defendants in a Chancery suit of Bucknoll v. Reynell.

Ezekiel Steed, of Exeter, mercer, married by licence at Woodbury, Oct. 23rd, 1666, Elizabeth Reynolds (see Elizabeth, bapt. 1639 at St. Edmund's) and had issue among others Bucknoll Steed, Thomas Steed, Benjamin Steed, and Elizabeth (Steed), wife of William Reynell above. 1687, Sept. 19, William Reynell and Elizabeth Steed, of Exon., spinster (Exeter marriage licences). 1687, Sept. 20, William Rynolds and Elizabeth Steed (St. Petrock's register). This year, 1687, William Reynell was steward or bailiff of Exeter. Elizabeth Steed was his third wife and probably his kins- woman through her mother, Elizabeth Reynell. The mutilated floor slab in St. Stephen's, Exeter, to the two previous wives of William Reynell ; Elizabeth Hurley, of Taunton, and Alice Pince, of St. Edmund's (whose register calls him Mr. William Renell) and their issue, lies one part in the S. aisle, and one section lengthwise, used in broken pieces, in the floor of the tower. He died at Topsham in 1702 and was buried in St. Stephen's, Exeter. His relict Elizabeth (Steed) Reynell died in 171 8, the wife of Joseph Hodder, of Topsham. In her will (P.R. Exon) made with her husband's consent and sealed with the arms of Reynell of Ogwell, she desires to be buried "with Mr. Renell in Exeter." Her son William Renell, of Topsham, merchant, is said (in family papers) to have made a journey to Holland when over seventy years of age, and to have brought back much specie in an old trunk marked M.P. 1675. He married Ann Poe, of St. Mary Major, Exeter, and died 1765. He is named in the will of his grandfather Ezekiel Steed. Elizabeth (d. of John Reynell or Reynolds), first wife of Ezekiel Steed, died 1679, and lies under a slab in the aisle of St. Laurence's Church, Exeter. In 1680 Ezekiel Steed married by licence Frances, daughter of Lieut.-Col. George Kekewich, Governor of St. Mawe's Castle for the Parliament, and sometime M.P. for Liskeard.

The Treatise of the Court done into English by John Reynolds and published in 1622, shows that John Reynolds had been lately at Paris in the service of Sir Edward Sackville, K.B., to whom the book is dedicated. I believe that Mr. Wallis (vide "A famous Exeter author," Notes and Gleanings (Vol. I, p. 1) remarks that there is a copy of each edition of John Reynolds' works in the library at Bicton House. Any fresh data concerning John Reynolds or his works would be much esteemed by the undersigned.                          W. U. Reynell-Upham.