The seventeenth century was an age of religious experimentation, controversy and conflict. Religious values and institutions had been shaken by the English and Scottish Reformations of the previous century, yet religion was at the heart of both political action and social thought. 

While some seventeenth-century Britons valued their own faith above all else, others saw belief and worship as part of the social and cultural fabric. Professor Spurr explores the nature of parish life and church administration and deftly reconstructs how ordinary people practiced religion in their everyday lives. He shows how and why religion still mattered to the people of Britain and Ireland.

• Offers a substantial narrative of English, Scottish and Irish history across the whole seventeenth century
• Explains the significance of religion in the society and politics of the seventeenth century in terms that can be readily comprehended by those with little or no prior knowledge
• Proposes a new framework for understanding the seventeenth century as a period of competition between rival religious values and ideals
• Offers readers a unique introduction to the sources for the history of seventeenth-century religion
• Portray and explores the worship and religious activity of ordinary seventeenth-century parishioners

Introduction: The Post-Reformation

1. England, Ireland and Scotland in 1603

Part 1: Religion and Politics

2. James I (1603-25)

3. Charles I (1625-38)

4. Civil War and Revolution (1638-49)

5. The Commonwealth and Protectorate (1649-60)

6. Charles II (1660-85)

7. James II, Revolution and Toleration (1685-9)

8. William III and Anne (1689-1714)

Part 2: Religion and Society

9. The Evidence of Religion

10. Church and Community

11. Church-Going

12. Religion Outside the Church

Conclusion: Post-Reformation Britain

Bibliography

Review of the first three books in the Religion, Politics and Society in Britain series:
''All three writers have made distinguished contributions to the specialist literature and, on the basis of these books, this will prove a most promising series intellectually, as well as one that offers much to students.''

Jeremy Black, Professor of History, Exeter University

John Spurr is Professor of History at the University of Swansea. He is the author of The Restoration of The Church of England 1646-1689 (Yale U.P., 1991), English Puritanism, 1603-1689 (Palgrave, 1998), and England in the 1670s: ‘This Masqerading Age’(Blackwell, 2000). He has edited volume 1 (1677-85) of the forthcoming Roger Morrice’s Entring Book, the last great unpublished seventeenth-century diary. He is at work on a history of oaths and swearing in the early modern period.

Religion, Politics and Society in Britain
Series Editor: Keith Robbins

The seventeenth century was an age of religious experimentation, controversy and conflict. Religious values and institutions had been shaken by the English and Scottish Reformations of the previous century. As England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland turned into ‘Great Britain’, the Reformation gave way to the Post-Reformation, rife with competition between rival versions of Christianity.

Religion was at the heart of both political action and social thought. John Spurr reveals religion as the driving force of events through the reigns of the first Stuarts, the Civil War and execution of Charles I, the Commonwealth and the Restoration, the Popish plot, the Glorious Revolution which kicked James II off the throne, and the years of war under William and Anne. Vivid quotations and a compelling narrative bring these tumultuous events to life.

While some seventeenth-century Britons valued their own faith above all else, others saw belief and worship as part of the social and cultural fabric. Professor Spurr explores the nature of parish life and church administration and deftly reconstructs how ordinary people practiced religion in their everyday lives. He shows how and why religion still mattered to everyone in these islands.

John Spurr is Professor of History at the University of Swansea. He is the author of The Restoration Church of England 1646-1689 (1991), English Puritanism, 1603-1689 (1998), and England in the 1670s: ‘This Masquerading Age’ (2000).

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