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<p>This dissertation examines the preservation of the Church of England in Interregnum England. It
incorporates a microhistorical analysis of parish life in four Puritanical counties located in East
Anglia, namely Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. In the current historiography on the
Church of England, scholars of religious history have traditionally associated both Puritan and
sectarian activity with the political upheaval, religious reform, and the collapse of cultural norms
that accompanied the English Interregnum. Absent from this scholarship, however, are the voices
and actions of those devoted parishioners who refused to abandon their parish church after its
disestablishment in 1649. These followers, henceforth called “Conformists,” both fostered and
maintained a shared cultural system that stabilized their communal interaction in a period
exemplified by politico-religious chaos. In a period characterized by bloody conflicts, their
instruments were not swords, but sermons. Thus, this project reveals that the perseverance of
Conformists amid the persecution of Cromwellian England was not arbitrary, but a disciplined
reaction in which spiritual guidance was actively sought and developed. Central to this response
were the actions of sequestered Conformist ministers who guided their displaced congregations by
administering forbidden sacraments and emboldening communal engagement.
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| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/7800713 |
| Date | 15 May 2019 |
| Creators | Padraig A Lawlor (6421688) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/God_s_Preservationists_The_Championing_of_Conformity_in_Interregnum_England_1649_1660/7800713 |
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