This week in Christian history: YMCA’s first world conference, pioneering Indian bishop born
Thomas Fuller dies — Aug 16. 1661
This week marks the anniversary of when Thomas Fuller, a Church of England preacher, scholar and satirist known for being a prolific 17th century writer, died at age 53.
Educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, Fuller served as a chaplain in the Royalist Army during the English Civil War and later wrote a satirical work attacking Puritan Oliver Cromwell.
Fuller also wrote multiple scholarly works, including The Church-History of Britain, The History of the University of Cambridge, The History of Waltham-Abbey in Essex and The Holy State, the Profane State.
“By enriching his factual accounts with descriptions of psychological oddities and other details of human interest, Fuller widened the scope of English biographical writing,” noted Britannica.
“He was also a historian who gathered facts from original sources, producing works that provide much valuable antiquarian information. He acquired a reputation for quaintness because his writings abound with epigrams, anecdotes, puns, and other conceits, but he also paid careful attention to literary form.”
