Christopher Love

Christopher Love (1618, Cardiff, Wales – 22 August 1651, London) was a Welsh Presbyterian preacher and activist during the English Civil War. In 1651, he was executed by the English government for plotting with the exiled Stuart court. The Puritan faction in England considered Love to be a martyr and hero.

Love was born in 1618 in Cardiff. At age 14, Love became an adherent to the Puritan congregation. His father disapproved of Love's interests in religion and sent him to London to become an apprentice. However, in 1636, Love's mother and his religious mentor sent him to Oxford University instead. When William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury, introduced his Canons of 1640 to reform the English church, Love was one of the first Puritans to renounce them. As a young man, Love became the domestic chaplain to John Warner, the sheriff of London.

St. Ann's, Aldersgate invited Love to become a lecturer, but William Juxon, the bishop of London, refused to provide Love with an allowance for three years; Archbishop Laud had warned Juxon to keep an eye on Love. Declining Episcopal ordination, Love went to Scotland to seek ordination from the Presbytery there; However, the Scottish Church only would only ordain residents of Scotland and Love planned to return to England.

On Love's return to England around 1641, he was invited by the mayor and aldermen of Newcastle to preach there. In Newcastle, Love started attacking what he saw as errors in the Book of Common Prayer in his sermons, resulting in his being sent to gaol. After filing a writ of Habeas Corpus, the Newcastle authorities sent Love to London. He was tried in the king's bench and acquitted of all charges.

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