The Authorship ofA Brieff Discours off the Troubles Begonne at Franckford

Abstract

TheBrieff discours off the troubles begonne at Franckford, an anonymous tract commonly ascribed to William Whittingham, dean of Durham, and printed in Heidelberg in 1574 and 1575, enjoys a unique reputation among the polemical writings of the Elizabethan puritans for its well-documented if partisan account of the controversies of the Marian exiles in their German and Swiss congregations. The importance of theBrieff discoursas a source for the history of the Exile has hitherto tended to divert attention from the circumstances of its origin in the Elizabethan puritan controversy. This note is intended to introduce new evidence on the activities of a group of puritan propagandists responsible for organising the publication of this and other tracts in the early years of the Elizabethan Presbyterian Movement; to call in question the traditional attribution of theBrieff discoursto Whittingham; and to suggest that the author may have been a relatively obscure exile, Thomas Wood.

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