John Greenwood

John Greenwood (died 6 April 1593) was an English Puritan divine and separatist. The date and place of his birth are unknown. He entered as a sizar at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, on 18 March 1577-1578, and commenced B.A. 1581. Whether he was directly influenced by the teaching of Robert Browne, a graduate of the same college, is uncertain; in any case he held strong Puritan opinions, which ultimately led him to Separatism of the most rigid type. In 1581 he was chaplain to Lord Rich, at Rochford, Essex. At some unspecified time he had been made deacon by John Aylmer, Bishop of London, and priest by Thomas Cooper, Bishop of Lincoln; but before long he renounced this ordination as "wholly unlawful." Details of the next few years are...