# Joshua Sprigg

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**Joshua Sprigg** or **Sprigge** (1618 in [Banbury](/source/Banbury) – 1684) was an English Independent theologian and preacher. He acted as chaplain to [Sir Thomas Fairfax](/source/Sir_Thomas_Fairfax), general for the Parliamentarians, and wrote or co-wrote the 1647 book *Anglia Rediviva*,[1][2][3] a history of the part played up to that time by Fairfax's army in the [Wars of the Three Kingdoms](/source/Wars_of_the_Three_Kingdoms).[4]

He studied at [New Inn Hall, Oxford](/source/New_Inn_Hall,_Oxford), and took an M. A. at the [University of Edinburgh](/source/University_of_Edinburgh). He then became a parish priest in London, at the church of St. Pancras, Soper Lane. He later was a Fellow of [All Souls College, Oxford](/source/All_Souls_College,_Oxford), imposed by Parliament after their victory.

Some contemporary scholarship also attributes to him the authorship of the anonymous pamphlet *Ancient Bounds* from 1645,[5] a major work of the period on [freedom of conscience](/source/Freedom_of_conscience); this had previously been thought to be from the pen of [Francis Rous](/source/Francis_Rous).

Sprigg is featured at the end of [Rosemary Sutcliff](/source/Rosemary_Sutcliff)'s 1953 [historical fiction](/source/Historical_fiction) novel [Simon](/source/Simon_(Sutcliff_novel)), where he is portrayed helping the wounded of both sides of the [Battle of Torrington](/source/Battle_of_Torrington), and plays a pivotal role in connecting the story with a resolution for who blew up the church.

## Notes

1. [\[1\]](http://home.wxs.nl/~taylorpj/intro.htm), title page and some lists from content.

1. [\[2\]](http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/1431768), library entry, attribution also to [Nathaniel Fiennes](/source/Nathaniel_Fiennes_(Roundhead)).

1. [PDF](http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/langport.pdf), battle report for Langport 1645, with extended quote.

1. *Concise Dictionary of National Biography*

1. [Barbara Kiefer](/source/Barbara_Kiefer), *The Authorship of "Ancient Bounds"*, Church History, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Sep., 1953), pp. 192-196.

## External links

- [*Anglia Rediviva*, online text (PDF)](https://web.archive.org/web/20070711185030/http://www.bristol.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/download/asset/?asset_id=17282047)

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