2. The persecution of dissenters under Charles II and James II

Question 1

Why was persecution much worse under Charles II?

Answer 1

1) Scale of persecution and numbers affected
2) The bitterness and desire for revenge with which it was enforced in some (but not all) places
3) It was targeted primarily at those who wanted to remain within the Church and had to establish separate congregations

Question 2

Clarendon Code

Answer 2

Named after Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon - Charles II’s chief minister

Question 3

4 Acts of the Clarendon Code:

Answer 3

The Corporation Act 1661 - to make it impossible for non-conformists to hold municipal offices

The Act of Uniformity 1662 - to exclude non-conformists from Church offices

The Conventicle Act 1664 - to widen the targets to include the laity who attended meetings and to isolate the ministers

The Five Mile Act 1665 - to drive non-conformists away from their friends and allies who remained

Question 4

Purpose of the Clarendon Code

Answer 4

Part of a coherent strategy on the part of the High Church party
- To create a uniformity of worship across the kingdom and silence dissent of any kind

Question 5

Did the strategy to create uniformity, under Charles, succeed?

Answer 5

No - by 1669, it was clear the strategy failed

Question 6

Which group endured the most suffering?

Answer 6

• Quakers - already experiencing problems in wake of the Quaker Scare in 1659 - led to several being executed by the fearful authorities

Question 7

Why were the Quakers targeted the most?

Answer 7

• Many radical groups had joined the Quakers - levellers, diggers, etc.
• They refused to meet in secret
• Their methods of worship - waiting in silence until someone was moved to speak by God - roused suspicions that they met for other, secret purposes

Question 8

The Quaker Act

Answer 8

1662 - allowed them to be arrested and tendered the Oath of Allegiance

Their beliefs didn’t allow them to sweat an oath of any kind - most offered to make a declaration rather than an oath - offer rejected

Therefore - many imprisoned without charge - for indefinite periods

Question 9

Impact of Act of Uniformity

Answer 9

• Of the 1,800 ministers who left the Church - around 1,000 ejected in summer of 1662
• Impossible to generalise about their reactions - may refuse to give up their meetings - as long as there were followers who sought their support
• Meetings continued in private houses despite the danger of arrest

Question 10

When was the worst over for dissenters?

Answer 10

In many areas by 1669 - the mood of revenge had softened by 1666 and the first Conventicle Act expired in 1667

Question 11

Improvements for Dissenters in 1660s?

Answer 11

• Preachers - such as Heywood - operated within new networks - used personal contacts to move around and share ideas with those sympathetic to dissenters

Question 12

Thomas Jolly and Henry Root

Answer 12

• Heywood’s friendship with them encouraged him to meet w/ fellow dissenters of both Presbyterian and Congregationalist views - to establish an informal association of ministers

Question 13

Richard Frankland

Answer 13

1669 - founded an Academy to provide an education for potential clergy

Question 14

Increasingly, in the 1660s, dissenters were beginning to…

Answer 14

accept an existence outside the Church and plan for the future.

Question 15

Why wasn’t survival assured for dissenters?

Answer 15

• Difficulties and hostilities remained - and internal conflicts between the different denominations

Question 16

How was the Quaker movement well organised?

Answer 16

• Each meeting was self-sufficient in terms of daily worship and local support - didn’t require orders from the central office
• Poor relief given to members separately in each congregation
• The movement was linked by travelling preachers, district monthly meetings and an Annual Meeting in Skipton in Yorkshire

Question 17

Struggles of Quaker leaders in 1660s

Answer 17

Effectively removed, imprisoned or worse between 1661 and 64

- George Fox - kept in chains in a single chamber in one of the guard towers, in Scarborough Castle between 1664 and 66

Question 18

Quaker meeting in York in 1668

Answer 18

• Proposals for a new structure put together - w/ monthly district meetings an Annual Meeting in London run by a central committee
• This system succeeded in transforming a powerful but diffuse gathering of enthusiasts into a highly organised, disciplined Church

Question 19

How did the Second Conventicle Act come about in 1670?

Answer 19

• Gilbert Sheldon - Archbishop of Canterbury - campaigned for renewal of Conventicle Act - argued that dissent had survived and had begun to organise more effectively
• Conducted survey to assess extent of dissent - probably underestimated full numbers - wanted to raise the alarm and renew persecution - but didn’t want to suggest the destruction of dissenting groups had become impossible

Question 20

Impact of Second Conventicle Act?

Answer 20

• Hard to assess, but overall limited
• Partly because dissenters were more organised - likely that many people were fed up with the ongoing persecution of people they knew to be decent, respectable neighbours

Question 21

Sir Orlando Bridgeman and Sir Matthew Hale

Answer 21

1669 - two judges supported by the Bishops of Chester, John Wilkins, who tried to introduce a scheme for revising the Act of Uniformity - to allow the Comprehension of most dissenters

Failed - but was an indication of opposition to persecution within the ruling elite and the Church

Question 22

Evidence of Charles II’s sympathy for dissenters

Answer 22

1672 - Charles II - Declaration of Indulgence - suspended the Conventicle Act and other persecuting laws - to allow dissenters the freedom not to attend church - and to meet in licensed gatherings of their own

Question 23

John Wilkins

Answer 23

Believed that there was room for dissenters to be accommodated

• His academic and scientific background - allowed him to find common ground w/ scholars
• Argued from the outset that persecution was both irrational and counter-productive

Question 24

John Tilloston

Answer 24

Became Archbishop of Canterbury - in 1691

- Had been a non-conformist before 1664

Question 25

Change in attitude over dissenters among the wealthy classes in the 1660s

Answer 25

• Among the aldermen and JPs who were responsible for enforcing anti-dissenter laws - many who conformed without enthusiasm
• Early 1660s - these people had offered to help individual ministers, but found it difficult to speak out against persecution as a whole

Question 26

The Cabal

Answer 26

Groups of close advisers appointed by Charles - after the fall of Clarendon in 1667
- Included 2 Catholics, one near-atheist and 2 who had close associations w/ moderate Puritanism

Charles now felt able to challenge the High Church Anglicans and their parliamentary allies for control of policy.

Question 27

How did dissenters consolidate the gains made by 1669 and lay the foundations of future development?

Answer 27

• Physical foundations - meeting houses, ministers’ associations, development of education and training academic
• Also psychological - ministers could take out licenses and define their ministry outside the national Church

Licences recalled in 1675 - by which time the patterns of worship were well established

Question 28

Richard Baxter

Answer 28

Took out a license to preach after 1669 - refused to be designated a Presbyterian - a condition of the license

Question 29

Problems w/ renewal of persecution after 1675

Answer 29

• Was often patchy and ineffective - lots of local and individual variations

E.g. - Presbyterian and Congregationalist groups worshipped largely undisturbed - even the Quaker meetings outside the borough subject only to intermittent problems at hands of individual justices or clergy

Question 30

1676 - Danby - census

Answer 30

1676 - Danby - tried to deplete census of dissenting groups in bid to persuade Charles that persecution should be renewed
- Not properly carried out + failed in its main purpose

Question 31

King’s response to Danby about persecution in 1676

Answer 31

• Argued that both dissenters and Catholics were too numerous to be suppressed

Question 32

Impact of the Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis on dissenters and the Whigs?

Answer 32

1678-83 - cemented the alliance between the dissenters and their Whig supporters even more firmly
- Eventually backfired on dissenters

Question 33

Impact of the failure of Exclusion, the Rye House Plot and the collapse of Whig support on Charles II?

Answer 33

• 1682-83 - freed Charles to pursue his own agenda

- Part of this - to renew the attack on dissent and on sources of Whig power associated w/ them

Question 34

Persecution of 1683-86

Answer 34

From Devon to Yorkshire - dissenters forced to abandon meetings or meet in secret

Charles - recall and amendment of borough charters - intended to gain control of local administration and the MPs it produced

Question 35

Persecution - 1686-87

Answer 35

• Ceased for the most part - at which point dissenters were quickly able to re-emerge and re-constitute their organisations
• Persecution had failed in its purpose and public opinion had by now shifted from the desire for uniformity

Question 36

Gradual shift in public perception of dissenters in 1680s

Answer 36

• That dissenters were pious, peaceable and loyal subject to the king
• Blunted impact of any persecution

Local officials - often prepared to resign their positions rather than carry out king’s orders seeing no justification to persecute decent people.

Question 37

What was the goodwill eventually felt towards dissenters, later in the century, often a result of?

Answer 37

Perceived growing influence of Catholicism.

Question 38

Was the survival of dissenters assured by 1686?

Answer 38

Difficult to prove conclusively - had Charles II lived longer, or had James Ii continued w/ a policy of Anglicanism and persecution, it’s possible that resistance would have been worn down

Question 39

3 main factors that aided the survival of dissenters between 1660 and 1686

Answer 39

1) Commitment and dedication of those who left the Church - either voluntarily or ejection, to their beliefs and their need to retain them
2) Level of support given by sympathisers - through social and political organisations - including some positions of influence and power
3) Number of mistakes made by enemies - greatest of which probably the decision to define uniformity on a narrow basis - thus increasing number and range of those who became dissenters

Question 40

Importance of the Presbyterians in the survival of dissenting groups

Answer 40

• Without the Presbyterians and their contacts - the remaining groups would have lacked the level of support that was crucial to survival in early years
• Especially support from political and social elites

Question 41

Arguably the crucial element in survival of dissenters?

Answer 41

Misjudgements of their enemies in 1662 - in defining and creating non-conformity on a scale and w/ a range of support that gave the non-conformists a fighting chance.