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Miles Huggarde

Miles Huggarde or Myles Hogarde (fl. 1533 – 1557), was an English religious pamphleteer and opponent of the Protestant Reformation. He has been described as the best of Roman Catholic propagandists in the bitter pamphlet war of 1553–1558 during the reign of Queen Mary I.

Huggarde is stated to have been a shoemaker or hosier in London, and the first writer for the Catholic cause who had not received a monastic or academic education. He lived in Pudding Lane at the northern edge of London Bridge. In 1553 he was made hosier to Queen Mary and allocated a shilling a quarter. But he was not prosperous enough to be made a member of the Haberdashers Company, or a Freeman of the City, or to leave a will.

The 17th-century antiquarian, Anthony Wood, described him as, "the first trader or mechanic that appeared in print for the catholic cause". Huggarde exemplified the gradual spread of literacy and printing, and the rising importance of the laity in religious affairs in England. His earliest work, "''The Abuse of the Blessed Sacrament of the Aultare''", was written at the end of the reign of King Henry VIII and tackled the denigration of the Eucharist which had developed among some reforming groups. However, he published the remainder of his works during the reign of Queen Mary Tudor, most notable of which was the "''Displaying of the Protestants, and sondry their Practises''" written in 1556.

Huggarde was noticed by leading men on the Protestant side, and as one of the most indefatigable opponents of the Reformation during the reign of Mary I he attracted a lot of criticism. The writers against him included Laurence Humphrey, Robert Crowley, William Keth, and John Plough.

John Foxe reported how the Kent gentleman, Thomas Haukes, had challenged him on where he lived and his trade at a disputation at Bishop Bonner's house: "Ye can better skille to eate a pudding and make a hose then in scripture eyther to aunswere or oppose". Another Protestant opponent, Bishop Bale, also punned on his name calling him 'insanus Porcarius' and 'Milo Porcarius, vel Hoggardus, servorum Dei malignus proditor,' and ridiculed him for endeavouring to prove the necessity of fasting from Virgil's ''Æneid'' and Cicero's ''Tusculanae Disputationes''. John Strype spoke of him disparagingly, remarking that "he set him self to oppose and abuse the gospellers, being set on and encouraged by priests and massmongers, with whom he much consorted, and was sometimes with them at Bishop Bonner's house."

Huggarde was living in the last year of Mary's reign, and in the title-pages of several of his works he describes himself as 'servant to the Queene's most excellent Majestie.' Provided by Wikipedia