The Long Story of Lord Rochester's Conversion
This article considers the much-vaunted deathbed conversion of the Restoration poet and rake, the Earl of Rochester. His wife, Elizabeth Malet, had herself converted to Catholicism after their marriage and both played significant roles at court. The claims that Rochester's conversion to serious...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
The journal of religious history, literature and culture
Year: 2025, Volume: 11, Issue: 1, Pages: 43-56 |
| Further subjects: | B
Deathbed
B Robert Parsons B Rochester B Gilbert Burnet B Conversion B Latitudinarianism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article considers the much-vaunted deathbed conversion of the Restoration poet and rake, the Earl of Rochester. His wife, Elizabeth Malet, had herself converted to Catholicism after their marriage and both played significant roles at court. The claims that Rochester's conversion to serious Anglicanism on his deathbed were the result of the intervention of Gilbert Burnet, a leading Latitudinarian cleric, have often been taken by historians at face value. This article suggests that the Earl's funeral sermon proposes an alternative influence on Rochester, Robert Parsons. Parsons was domestic chaplain to the Earl's mother and curate of Adderbury near Rochester’s home. He attended Rochester in his final days and prayed and spoke with him about the Book of Common Prayer's preparation for death. His claims to have stimulated Rochester's deathbed repentance are much more convincing. |
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| ISSN: | 2057-4525 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of religious history, literature and culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.16922/jrhlc.11.1.3 |
