He was the son of Anchor Brent of
Little Wolford, Warwickshire, where he was born about 1573. He became 'portionist,' or postmaster, of
Merton College, Oxford, in 1589; proceeded B.A. on 20 June 1593; was admitted probationer fellow there in 1594, and took the degree of M.A. on 31 October 1598. He was
proctor of the university in 1607, and admitted
bachelor of law on 11 October 1623. In 1613 and 1614 he travelled abroad, securing the Italian text of the
History of the Council of Trent which he was to translate. In 1616, he was in
the Hague with
Dudley Carleton, ambassador there, who wrote about Brent's ambitions to
Ralph Winwood. Soon after the close of his foreign tour Brent married Martha, the daughter and heiress of
Robert Abbot, Bishop of Salisbury, and niece of
George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury. On the outbreak of the
First English Civil War Brent sided with Parliament. Before Charles I entered Oxford (29 October 1642), he had abandoned Oxford for London. On 27 January 1645 Charles I wrote to the remaining Fellows at Merton that Brent was deposed from his office on the grounds of his having absented himself for three years from the college, of having adhered to the rebels, and of having accepted the office of
judge-marshal in their ranks. He had also signed the
Solemn League and Covenant. The petition for the formal removal of Brent, to which the king's letter was an answer, was drawn up by
John Greaves,
Savilian professor of geometry. On 9 April,
William Harvey was elected to fill Brent's place: but as soon as Oxford fell into the hands of
Thomas Fairfax, the parliamentary general (24 June 1646), Brent returned to Merton, and apparently resumed his post there without any opposition being offered him. In 1647, Brent was appointed president of the parliamentary commission, or visitation, ordered by Parliament "for the correction of offences, abuses, and disorders" in the
University of Oxford. The proceedings began on 3 June, but it was not until 30 September that the colleges were directed to forward to Merton their statutes, registers, and accounts to enable Brent and his colleagues to set to work. On 12 April 1648, Brent presented four of the visitors for the degree of M.A. Early in May of the same year Brent spoke for
Anthony à Wood's retention of his postmastership in spite of his avowed royalism. Wood wrote that he owed this favour to the intercession of his mother, whom Brent had known from a girl. On 17 May 1649, Fairfax and
Oliver Cromwell paid the university a threatening visit, and malcontents were thenceforth proceeded against by the commission with rigour. But Brent grew dissatisfied with its proceedings. The visitors claimed to rule Merton College as they pleased, and, without consulting the Warden, they admitted fellows, Masters, and Bachelors of Arts. On 13 February 1651, he sent a petition of protest against the conduct of the visitors to parliament. The commissioners were ordered to answer Brent's complaint, but there is no evidence that they did so, and, in October 1651, Brent retired from the commission. On 27 November, following he resigned his office of Warden, nominally in obedience to an order forbidding pluralities, but his refusal to sign 'the engagement,' a statement of loyalty, was a probable cause of his resignation. Brent afterwards withdrew to his house in London, and died there on 6 November 1652. He was buried in
St Bartholomew-the-Less. ==Works==