John Bennet (judge)

Sir John Bennet (1553 – 15 February 1627) was a civil lawyer, ecclesiastical judge, diplomat, royal commissioner, university administrator, politician, and devotional writer, who sat in the House of Commons between 1597 and 1621. Educated at both Oxford and Cambridge, he held many senior legal and ecclesiastical offices including Chancellor of Queen Anne's Household, Vicar General and Chancellor of the Diocese of York, Judge of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Judge of the Admiralty Court, and Master in Chancery in ordinary, to name but a few. He served repeatedly as a member of parliament, representing Ripon, York, and Oxford University, he sat on numerous royal commissions, acted as envoy to Brussels, rebuilt the University Schools at Oxford alongside Sir Thomas Bodley, and was a Founding Governor of Pembroke College. Regarded in his lifetime as one of Oxford University's "three worthies," Bennet played an influential role in the academic, legal, and political life of Early-Stuart England. His career eventually ended in controversy after he was found guilty of extorting bribes and excessive fees, though his family retained their estates. Whilst confined to Fleet Prison, he wrote his devotional work The Psalme of Mercy or, A Meditation vpon the 51. Psalme, by a true Penitent which gives deep insight into the mind of a man grappling with the moral and psychological consequences of sin, temptation, and self-examination.

Education

Bennet was the second son of Richard Bennet of Clapcot, Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire) and his wife, Elizabeth Tesdale, the daughter of Thomas Tesdale of Stanford Dingley and Abingdon. She was the half-sister of Thomas Tesdale, the founder of Pembroke College, Oxford. He was probably educated at John Roysse's Free School in Abingdon (now Abingdon School).