11 Empire of heresy
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David R. Como
Abstract
This chapter investigates the shadowy world of transoceanic religious practices by reconstructing the milieu that produced two of the most notorious radical dissidents of the seventeenth-century Anglophone world: Samuel Gorton, one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Rhode Island, and Gerrard Winstanley, the intellectual leader of England’s ‘Digger’ movement, which captured the attention of revolutionary England with its calls for changes to the private property regime. Beginning with a reconstruction of the characteristic religious practices of the London neighbourhood that was home to both men, the chapter examines hitherto unknown manuscript evidence to offer new insight into the structural conditions and personal networks that likely shaped their distinctive and original (but not dissimilar) theological and political activities. Indeed, although Gorton left for New England in the 1630s, it will be demonstrated that tantalizing personal ties can be established between the two men, suggesting that observable similarities in their politico-religious practices may have been more than merely accidental. The chapter thus chronicles the movement and evolution of heterodox religious practices from the microscopic level of the London parish to the much more sweeping canvas of transoceanic empire, charting the tangled process by which two obscure London tradesmen forged patterns of theological inquiry and social interaction that have continued to fascinate scholars on both sides of the Atlantic down to the present day
Abstract
This chapter investigates the shadowy world of transoceanic religious practices by reconstructing the milieu that produced two of the most notorious radical dissidents of the seventeenth-century Anglophone world: Samuel Gorton, one of the ‘founding fathers’ of Rhode Island, and Gerrard Winstanley, the intellectual leader of England’s ‘Digger’ movement, which captured the attention of revolutionary England with its calls for changes to the private property regime. Beginning with a reconstruction of the characteristic religious practices of the London neighbourhood that was home to both men, the chapter examines hitherto unknown manuscript evidence to offer new insight into the structural conditions and personal networks that likely shaped their distinctive and original (but not dissimilar) theological and political activities. Indeed, although Gorton left for New England in the 1630s, it will be demonstrated that tantalizing personal ties can be established between the two men, suggesting that observable similarities in their politico-religious practices may have been more than merely accidental. The chapter thus chronicles the movement and evolution of heterodox religious practices from the microscopic level of the London parish to the much more sweeping canvas of transoceanic empire, charting the tangled process by which two obscure London tradesmen forged patterns of theological inquiry and social interaction that have continued to fascinate scholars on both sides of the Atlantic down to the present day
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures ix
- Notes on contributors x
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Political and religious practices
- 1 Stealing bibles in early modern London 37
- 2 Printed English-language Bible concordances to c. 1640 and intentions for lay Bible use 55
- 3 In the company of merchants 77
- 4 Consensual conflict in the early Stuart House of Commons 97
- 5 John Hacket’s Scrinia Reserata and the oral history of early Stuart England 115
- 6 ‘Man of moderation’ 138
- 7 Hoadly the high and Sacheverell the low 158
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Part II: British, European, and Atlantic dimensions
- 8 The Nine Years’ War in Ireland (1594–1603) as problem of government 181
- 9 Luisa de Carvajal, her ‘Life’, and the place of women in Counter-Reformation politics 203
- 10 Of gods and beasts 220
- 11 Empire of heresy 241
- Index 262
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures ix
- Notes on contributors x
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Political and religious practices
- 1 Stealing bibles in early modern London 37
- 2 Printed English-language Bible concordances to c. 1640 and intentions for lay Bible use 55
- 3 In the company of merchants 77
- 4 Consensual conflict in the early Stuart House of Commons 97
- 5 John Hacket’s Scrinia Reserata and the oral history of early Stuart England 115
- 6 ‘Man of moderation’ 138
- 7 Hoadly the high and Sacheverell the low 158
-
Part II: British, European, and Atlantic dimensions
- 8 The Nine Years’ War in Ireland (1594–1603) as problem of government 181
- 9 Luisa de Carvajal, her ‘Life’, and the place of women in Counter-Reformation politics 203
- 10 Of gods and beasts 220
- 11 Empire of heresy 241
- Index 262
