Francis Cheynell[1] (1608–1665) was a prominent English religious controversialist, of Presbyterian views, and President of St John's College, Oxford 1648 to 1650, imposed by the Parliamentary regime.
His Aulicus of 1644 is accounted the first work of speculative fiction to be set in a hypothetical future,[2] in this case the return of Charles I of England.
He was a vicar in Hertfordshire and then at Marston St Lawrence, Northamptonshire from 1637; he lost his position in Oxford, as an opponent of William Laud, in 1638.
[4] Pushed out by Royalist forces, he became a chaplain to the New Model Army, and a member of the Westminster Assembly.
[7] He was also Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford University until deposed at the Restoration.