William Twisse D.D. (1578?–1646), puritan divine, was born at Speenhamland in the parish of Speen, near Newbury, about 1578. The family name is variously spelled Twysse, Twiss, Twyste, and Twist. His grandfather was a German, his father a clothier. Thomas Bilson [q. v.] was his uncle (Kendall). While at Winchester school where he was admitted, aged 12, in 1590 (Kirby), he was startled into religious conviction by the apparition of a ‘rakehelly’ schoolfellow uttering the words ‘I am damned.’ From Winchester he went as probationer fellow to New College, Oxford, in 1596, his eighteenth year (ib.), was admitted fellow 11 March 1598, graduated B.A. 14 Oct. 1600, M.A. 12 June 1604, and took orders. His reputation was that of an erudite student, equally remarkable for…