Robert Browne (Brownist)

Robert Browne (died 1633) was the founder of the Brownists, a common designation for early Separatists from the Church of England before 1620. In later life he was reconciled to the established church and became an Anglican priest.

Browne was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England sometime in the 1550s, the son of Anthony Browne. In 1572 he took a degree from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. It was probably while Browne was at Corpus Christi that he first met Robert Harrison from Norwich. They were both influenced by the Puritan theologian Thomas Cartwright.

Browne became a Lecturer at St Mary's Church, Islington, where his dissident preaching against the doctrines and disciplines of the Church of England began to attract attention. During 1578 he returned to Cambridge and came under the influence of Richard Greenham, Puritan rector of Dry Drayton, near Cambridge. Browne may have been encouraged to complete his ordination and serve at a parish church. He was offered a lecturer position at St Bene't's Church, Cambridge possibly through Greenham, but his tenure there was short lived. He may have come to reject the Puritan view of reform from within the Church, and started to look outside the established Church.

Browne was the first seceder from the Church of England and the first to found a church of his own on Congregational principles. By 1581 he had attempted to set up a separate church in Norwich; he was arrested but released on the advice of William Cecil, his kinsman. Browne and companions left England and moved to Middelburg in the Netherlands later in 1581. There they organised a church on what they conceived to be the New Testament model, but the community broke up within two years owing to internal dissensions.

...
Wikipedia