Quakers, Tithe Opposition, and the Presbyterian National Church: The Case of Cartmel, Lancashire, c.1644-1660

This article will examine the development of the early Quaker movement in England during the 1650s, and by focusing on one north Lancashire parish, Cartmel, will seek to answer the question: why did people convert to a religious movement that undermined traditional communal worship, and which requir...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of historical sociology Vol. 24; no. 3; pp. 381 - 408
Main Author MAWDESLEY, JAMES
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2011
Subjects
Church and state
England
Lancashire
National culture
Parishes
Presbyterians
Quakers
Reform
Religion
Religious Movements
Religious reform
United Kingdom
Worship
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Summary:This article will examine the development of the early Quaker movement in England during the 1650s, and by focusing on one north Lancashire parish, Cartmel, will seek to answer the question: why did people convert to a religious movement that undermined traditional communal worship, and which required a very public separation from one's neighbours? Disillusionment at the slow pace of religious reform, both nationally and locally, during the late 1640s and early 1650s will be highlighted as an explanation as to why a minority of inhabitants enduring a particular set of religious circumstances may have found Quakerism an attractive faith. (Author abstract)
Bibliography:This article represents a substantially re-written version of my undergraduate dissertation, submitted to the Department of History at the University of Lancaster in March 2010, and which was awarded The Andrew Pearson Prize by the Committee of the Senate, and the undergraduate dissertation prize of The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. I would like to offer my thanks to Dr. Angus Winchester, who supervised the research and writing of this dissertation, and who offered me advice throughout both this process, and during the conversion of this dissertation into a journal article. Many thanks also to Dr. Michael Winstanley, who kindly proof read this article, and offered many helpful suggestions for improvement, and to the two anonymous peer-reviewers for their valuable comments. Throughout this article, whilst dates have been given in the "old style", the year has been assumed to have begun on 1 January rather than on 25 March, as it did in seventeenth century England. Also, although the spellings within primary sources have been retained, common contemporary abbreviations, such as "ye", "yt" and "wch", have been expanded into their modern forms i.e. "the", "that" and "which". In currency, "s" represents shillings, and "d" represents pence, with there being twelve pence in a shilling, and twenty shillings in a pound (£).
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ISSN:0952-1909
1467-6443
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-6443.2011.01403.x