CAVE, WILLIAM

CAVE, WILLIAM. - B. at Pickwell in Leicestershire in 1637, d. at Windsor in 1713. Anglican minister. Educated at Cambridge in St John’s College, vicar and rector of many parishes, chaplain to Charles II, canon of Windsor. A theologian, ecclesiastical historian, and critic of wide learning, especially for his time, but lacking critical judgment and often partisan in his assessments, as his adversaries noted, among whom was Jean le Clere. Among his most important works are: Primitive christianity (London 1672), on the primitive Church in its relations with paganism; Tabulae ecclesiasticae (ibid. 1674), a catalogue of ancient ecclesiastical writers; Apostolici (ibid. 1677), a history of figures from the first three centuries of the Church; and Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Litteraria (ibid. 1688–98), of which there is a posthumous edition (Oxford 1740–43) with numerous additions by the author himself. On account of their Protestant and anti-Roman spirit, all C.’s works are on the Index (decree of 11 Nov. 1693).