Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T20:21:08.931Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Presbyterianism in the City of London, 1645–1647

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Michael Mahony
Michael Mahony
Affiliation:
Mansfield College, Oxford
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The importance of presbyterianism in London politics during the 1640s has long been recognized, but only recently have its secular aspects received their proper emphasis. The burdens and uncertainties generated by prolonged warfare found expression in a rising tide of moderation and concern for property and social order. ‘City shopkeepers and merchants’ saw in a presbyterian system of church government the means of reimposing discipline upon parochial life through the offices of vestrymen and ruling elder. Of course, London presbyterianism was not merely an expression of economic and social dislocation. Indeed, this study will be very much concerned with the activities of a group of religiously committed presbyterians who were able to secure considerable political influence by exploiting the more amorphous presbyterian sentiment of many of the propertied citizens.

Type
Articles
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 1979 , pp. 93 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Pearl, V., ‘London's counter-revolution’ in The interregnum: the quest for settlement, Aylmer, G. E. (ed.) (London, 1972), pp. 31–3Google Scholar. Underdown, D., Pride's purge (Oxford, 1971), pp. 43–4Google Scholar. Brenner, R., ‘The Civil War politics of London's merchant community’, Past & Present, LVIII (1973), 85–7Google Scholar.

2 Pearl, V., ‘London puritans and Scotch fifth columnists: a mid-seventeenth century phenomenon’ in Studies in London history presented to Philip Edmund Jones, Hollaender, A. E. J. & Kellaway, W. (eds.) (London, 1969), pp. 325–31Google Scholar.

3 The whole works of the rev. John Lightfoot, D.D., Pitman, J. R. (ed.) (13 vols., London, 1822–1825), XIII, 50–1Google Scholar, The letters and journals of Robert Baillie, A.M., 1637–1662, Laing, D. (ed.) (3 vols., Edinburgh, 1841–1842), 11, 230, 240Google Scholar. Whitelocke's annals of his life, B.L., Add. MS 37,343, fo. 316. Journal of the house of commons, III, 630, 647.

4 Below, pp. 102, 106–7, Figure I, p. 104.

5 Cornelius Burgess, William Jenkins, Thomas Edwards, James Cranford, Simeon Ash, Samuel Clarke and Samuel Fisher. Laing, Baillie letters, II, 333, 345–6, 350, 358–9, 382.

6 The reader is referred to Professor Pearl's account of Baillie's clerical contacts in Hollaender & Kellaway, Studies in London history, pp. 326–8.

7 Vestry minutes, St Stephen Coleman Street, 1622–1726, Guildhall library MSS 4458/1, fos. 129, 134, 135. All the manuscript vestry minute books referred to in this article are deposited at the Guildhall library. Laing, Baillie letters, II, 296.

8 Burton, Henry, Truth shut out of doores (1645), P. 7Google Scholar. Calamy, Edmund, The door of truth opened (1645/1646), pp. 11, 16Google Scholar.

9 Pitman, Works of Lightfoot, xIII, 20.

10 Proceedings of the committee of plundered ministers, 1645–1646, B.L., Add. MSS 15,669, fo. 149; 15,670, fos. 8, 194, 216; 15,671, passim.

11 Vestry minute book of St Katherine Cree, MSS 1196/r, fos. 27, 27V, 31V, 32V, 33.

12 Vestry minute book of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, 1610–1763, MSS 3570/2, fo. 53.

13 Journal of the Court of Common Council 40, The Corporation of London Record Office, fo. 190v.

14 Edwards, Thomas, Gangraena (2 vols. in one, 1646–1647), part 3, pp. 147, 175Google Scholar.

15 Vestry minutes of St Bride's Fleet Street, 1644–65, MS. 6554/1, fos. 16, 28–28V.

16 Anon., The inditement of tythes (1645/1646), p. 1Google Scholar.

17 Vestry book of St Mary Magdalen Milk Street, 1619–68, MSS 2597/1, fo. 84.

18 Vestry book of St Clement Eastcheap, 1640–1759, MSS 978/1, fo. 15.

19 St Mary Aldermanbury vestry book, MSS 3570/2, fo. 46V. St Dunstan's in the East ancient vestry record book, MSS 4887, fo. 257AV. St Dunstan's in the West vestry minutes, 1558–1663, MSS 3016/1, fo. 229. St Mildred Poultry vestry minutes, 1641–1713, MSS 62/1, fo. 13. See also McCampbell, A. E., ‘The London parish and the London precinct, 1640–1660’, Guildhall Studies in London History, xi, 3 (1976), 121–4Google Scholar.

20 St Dunstan's in the East vestry book, MSS 4887, fo. 264V.

21 St Andrew's in Holborne, register book for christenings, G.L. MSS 6667/3, unfoliated.

22 St Mary Magdalen Milk Street vestry book, MSS 2597/1, fo. 83. St Stephen Coleman Street vestry book, MSS 4458/1, fos. 125, 147. St Mary Aldermanbury vestry book, MSS 3570/2, fo. 52V. St Martin's Ludgate vestry book, 1568–1715, MSS 1311/1, fo. 139. The vestry minute book of St Margaret Lothbury, 1571–1677, Freshfield, E. (ed.) (London, 1887), pp. 86–7Google Scholar.

23 St Bride's vestry book, MSS 6554/1, fo. 17. St Dunstan's in the West vestry book, MSS 3016/1, fos. 269–20.

24 Bellamy, John, A justification of the City remonstrance and its vindication (1646), p. 6Google Scholar.

25 Anon., Tolleration justified, persecution condemn'd (1646). Anon., A vindication of Mr Burroughes, against Mr Edwards his foule aspersions (1646), pp. 22–3Google Scholar.

26 Moderate Intelligencer, no. 74. Quoted by Underdown, Pride's purge, p. 75.

27 Laing, Baillie letters, 11, 363.

28 Journal 40, fos. 212, 220V, 230V, 231. See also my thesis, ‘The presbyterian party in the Long Parliament…’, Bodleian Library, D.Phil, d. 5838 (1973), ch. 10.

29 The journal of Thomas Juxon, B.L., Add. MSS 25,465, fos. 61v–62. Juxon's opposition to high presbyterianism should caution against placing undue reliance upon his account, but being a parishioner of St Thomas Apostle he was well placed to experience the full impact of its organization. I am indebted to Dr Mark Kishlansky for first drawing my attention to this journal.

30 The register-booke of the fourth classis in the province of London, 1646–1659, Surman, C. E. (ed.) (Harleian Society Publs., LXXXII and LXXXIII, London, 1953)Google Scholar. Records of provincial assembly of London, 1648–1660, Sion College library MSS Aec.L40.2/E17.

31 Journal 40, fos. 153v, 174–174v.

32 Juxon's journal, Add. MSS 25,465, fos. 45v,51v.

33 See appendix.

34 Commons journal, IV, 428, 448, 454, 463. Rushworth, J., Historical collections (8 vols., 1659–1701), VII, 233–7Google Scholar. Journal of the house of lords, VIII, 187, 202.

35 Laing, Baillie letters, 11, 359. Journal 40, fo. 173.

36 Juxon's journal, Add. MSS 25,465, fo. 63.

37 See Fig. 1 for the geographical distribution of parishes represented in the two petitions.

38 The registers of St Michael Bassishaw, London, 1626–1735, Clarke, A. W. H. (ed.), Harl. Soc. Publ. LXXIII (1943), part 2, 60Google Scholar.

39 The register of St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, London, Bannerman, W. B. (ed.), Harl. Soc. Publ. LXI (1931), part 1, 137Google Scholar.

40 St Michael Wood Street – register general, 1599–1662, G.L. MSS 6530, fo. 26v. Clarke, St Michael Bassishaw registers, part 2, 17–20, 22.

41 The registers of St Vedast Foster Lane & St Michael le Querne, London, Littledale, W. A. (ed.), Harl. Soc. Publ., registers xxix (1902), 1, 60–1Google Scholar. The registers of St Mary le Bowe Cheapside, All Hallows Honey Lane & of St Pancras Soper Lane, London, Bannerman, W. B. (ed.), Harl. Soc. Publ., registers XLIV (1914), 114Google Scholar.

42 Clarke, St Michael Bassishaw registers, part 2, 16, 17.

43 St Gregory by St Paul's – register general, 1627–59, G.L. MSS 10,232, fos. 10V, 12V. Register of St Martin at Ludgate, G.L. MSS 10,213, fo. 153.

44 St Augustine Watling Street – register general, 1559–1653, G.L. MSS 8872/1, fo. 119.

45 Laing, Baillie letters, 1, 357. See also Catalogue of the pamphlets…collected by George Thomason, 1640–1661, Fortescue, G. K. (2 vols., London, 1908), 1Google Scholar, passim.

46 Provincial assembly records, Sion College MSS. Aec. L 40.2/E 17, fos. 3, 8v ff. Warrants of the committee for the militia, Public Record Office, SP 28/237, fo. 86. Journal 40, fo. 302.

47 Below, pp. 107–11. See also Pearl, ‘London's counter-revolution’ in Aylmer, The interregnum, pp. 40–2.

48 St Augustine Watling Street – vestry minutes, 1601–1737, MSS 635/1, fos. 165, 168v. Commissioners for Scotland – letter book, 1645–6, B.L. Add. MSS 37,978, fo. 75.

49 Ricraft, Joseph, A looking glass for the anabaptists and the rest of the separatists (1646)Google Scholar, introd.

50 Edwards, Gangraena, part 1, 5, part 11, 44. Ricraft, , A nosegay of rank-smelling flowers (1646)Google Scholar. Drapes, E., A plain & faithful discovery of a beam in master Edwards his eye (1646), pp. 7, 13Google Scholar.

51 Ricraft, , A funeral elegy upon…his excellency Robert Devereux, earl of Essex (1646)Google Scholar.

52 Commons journal, v, 15–17. Letter of intelligence, July 1647, Worcester College Oxford, Clarke MSS 5.15, fo. 149V.

53 Militia warrants, SP 28/237, fos. 27, 62. Clarke MSS 5.15, fo. 232V.

54 Commons journal, v, 123–4.

55 Sion College MSS Aec. L. 40.2/E 17, fo. 21.

56 Laing, Baillie letters, n, 360. St Bride's vestry book, MSS 6554/1, fo. 12.

57 Ibid. fos. 26, 35V, 37. Edwards, Gangraena, part 1, 40.

58 Above, p. 108.

59 Journal 40, fo. 203.

60 The diplomatic correspondence of Jean de Montereul and the brothers de Bellièvre, 1645–48, Fotheringham, J. G. (ed.) (publications of the Scottish History Society, vols. 29 & 30, Edinburgh, 1898), 1, 354Google Scholar.

61 Below, p. III.

62 St Martin's Ludgate vestry book, MSS 1311/1, fos. 139, 143.

63 Ibid. fos. 137, 139V. Militia warrants, SP 28/237, fo. 70. R. Symonds – the king's army, 1643, B.L., Harleian MSS 986, fo. 13V.

63 St Martin's Ludgate vestry book, MSS 1311/1, fos. 146V–147V.

65 The journal of Richard Drake, Bodl., Rawlinson MSS D. 158, fo. 7V. Roger Drake senior was a parishioner of St Peter's Westcheap, and his treatment at the hands of the parliamentary authorities indicates that he was no friend to their cause.

66 Richard Drake was the sequestered minister of Radwinter in Essex. Ibid. fo. 52V.

67 Firth, C. H. & Rait, R. S., Acts and ordinances of the interregnum, 1642–1660 (2 vols., London, 1911), I, 797Google Scholar.

68 Matthews, A. G., Calamy revised (Oxford, 1934), p. 171Google Scholar. St Peter's Westcheap vestry minute book, 1619–1653, G.L. MSS 642/1, unfoliated.

69 Above, p. 108.

70 Juxon's journal, Add. MSS 25,465, fos. 41V–42. Further light is shed upon this presbyterian activity in the parishes by Juxon's account and the pamphlets and written comments of George Thomason.

71 Anthony Bickerstaffe, Gervase Blackwall, John Vicars, Nicholas Widmerpole. Harman Sheaffe also seems to have been connected with Christchurch.

72 Above, p. 109.

73 Edwards, Gangraena, part in, 63. Anon., A vindication of certaine citizens that lately went to the leaguer, then before Oxford (1646), p. 8Google Scholar. Lords journal, VIII, 401, 403.

74 Walker, E. C., William Dell, master puritan (Cambridge, 1970), p. 58Google Scholar, note 1.

75 Surman, Register-booke of the fourth classis, p. xvii.