the development of ideas and the paths they took went well beyond religion. in the reign of Elizabeth there was isolated examples of sects such as the Family of Love (a forerunner of the Quakers) and arguments against the confessional state were aided by the Brownists and Barrowists, but they were so isolated as to have little impact.

increase in the number of ministers who left Church to form separatist churches was seen during Archbishop Bancroft's drive for uniformity in 1604-10. Two ministers who were educated and ordained at Cambridge, John Robinson and John Smyth, gathered groups of adherents in Lincolnshire and were driven into exile along with remnants of a congregation led by a lay preacher in Sandwich and Henry Jacob another Cambridge graduate.

origins of religious radicalism can be linked to before Elizabeth's reign, when the first small groups of separatists. different ideas and beliefs links can be found with anti-clerical ideas and preachers who empathised the authority of the Bible above the Church, seen in the Peasant Revolt of 1381.

while living in Holland, the group (led by Robinson) seem to have prospered, but tiring of life in a foreign country, they acquired a ship named the Mayflower and set out for the newly settled colony of Virginia in America. they were blown of course by a storm and eventually established the first New England colony in 1620. their Congregational Church became the model for later settlers and provided a refuge for fellow Puritans especially during Laudian reforms.

by September 1658 when Cromwell died his efforts to balance freedom in religion and stability inside of society had achieved mixed results. most of the dangerous sects had disappeared but the Quakers still posed a threat( had become a refuge for earlier radicals such as Lilburne= Leveller and Winstanley=digger both converted in 1650.) the Freedom given to the independence(congregationalists) and the different orders of baptists had allowed them to become organised and establish setting up national organisation and specific conditions of faith (a formal statement of belief) to apply to all of their members. The importance of this would be shown after 1660 in helping both movements to survive renewed persecution. the Presbyterians had also gained from the opportunity to work in the church and setup voluntary organisations such as regional associations of ministers. at the same time fear and suspicion of religious radicalism had not disappeared as the Nayler case demonstrated and its links with the army intensified the unpopularity of both.

because of these fears the focus of the reaction was against the sects and for a number of reasons their significance was seriously exaggerated by contemporaries and historian the shocking nature of their beliefs especially as portrayed by the likes of Thomas Hall created a reaction of all proportion to their numbers.

as part of the intervention Shaw and Bowles travel to Breda to meet King Charles II and Shaw was appointed as royal Chaplain. when the King landed in England in 1660 another Presbyterian Minister in Yorkshire (Oliver Hayward of Coley) wrote of his excitement in his diary comparing the dark and gloomy winter of the Interregnum with the heart- reviving spring of the Restoration. Hayward lived through the reigns of Charles II and James II and his diary is an important source of information about the development of puritanism In Those Years- it recorded the painful process in which Puritanism was transformed into nonconformity.

particularly important=relative freedom of the press were new ideas were propagated and public debate stimulated more radical thinking.the work of The Independent creatures and the role of the new Model Army was crucial. By 1647 when the Quarrel between parliament and army intensified the arguments for religious freedom and radical social change were well publicised and available to those who were interested through both the Press And The pulpit.

the core of separatism before 1660 lay in three groups the congregationalists, the Baptist's and the Quakers. the total to these was no where near to the Presbyterians is aim still remained to reform the national Church. Hall,Baxter and other Presbyterian writers were even more disturbed by the activities of the Sects and the nation at large, and made no secret of their desire to see the return of authority in both church and state. in 1662 Presbyterian ministers (John Shaw of Hull and Edward Bowles of York) liaised with Sir Thomas Fairfax and General Monck's to arrange the seizure of York and clear the way for Monck's March to London. the 1200 deserters who left John Lamberts Regiment of the army and backed Fairfax a testament to both the respect in which the Presbyterian Fairfax was still held and to their own desire for stability.

the course of the war saw further growth arising from various factors. the breakdown of normal restraints allowed existing separatist groups and their preacher's to become more active attracting new members and strengthening the old. A number of the more radical ministers were able to take on Parish responsibilities or preach as lecturers in towns and Boroughs that were sympathetic to Parliament. They also established separate groups who attended meetings and debated the Bible (and the events of the well timed war) gradually building up a separate identity although not necessarily any formalised separation.

by 1666 Henry Jacob had return to England and established a congregational Church in England. by 1640 this had multiplied into 8 churches in part because of opposition to the Laudian reforms. Excitement caused by The Long Parliament encouraged further development that included the practice of allowing laymen to preach but on the eve of the Civil War in 1642 there were only about 1,000 active separatists in a city of around 350,000 -a supposed hotbed of radicalism

Clear Charles had made a mistake and misjudged the mood of parliament and with war against dark in a financial crisis on his hands he withdrew the indulgence. However it still enabled the dissenters to consolidate the gains made by 1669 and lay the foundations of future development. Some cases these foundations were Physical(the building of purpose-built meeting house, the formation of minister associations, and the development of education and training academies) go to equal importance for the majority of the psychological impact of taking out a licence and defining the ministry outside the national Church. some refused (Baxter took out a licence to preach but refused to be designated a Presbyterian) but most took out their licence and never gave it back.

Although the indulgence was withdrawn in 1673 the licence will not recalled until 1675 by which time is the pattern of worship Worship, links with sympathisers and practice of occasional of conformity by some were well established. After Persecution was renewed there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm and many of those charged with the task and application of the law was patchy and intermittent

When Persecution creased in 1686-87, it's failure was very clear when the percent is quickly re-emerged, reconstructed their organisations and took up their spiritual life. Despite the scale of this last persecution it failed in its purpose not only were the dissenting Chapel stronger and better organised and therefore more able to withstand the onslaught but public opinion have begin to shift away from the desire for uniformity. when the Earl of Plymouth ordered his local courts to enforce the law against dissenters with a strict level one alderman threatened to resign, explaining after years of observation we found the present is to be pious peaceful man and were loyal subjects to the King. Such resistance could not prevent the persecution but it could and did blunt the impact. The gradual shift in public perception about the church, religion and the nature of dissent worked in favour of its survival. this year's result from the behaviours of the sensors on the alloys but also a growing fear of the influence of Catholicism.

the extend of local and individual variation and the limited range of records available make accurate generalisations impossible. in Hull . the Presbyterian and congregationalist groups worshipped largely undisturbed and even the Quaker meetings outside the bar with subject only to intermittent problems at the hand of individual Justice's or clergy. in 1676, when Danby mounted a census of dissenting groups in a bid to persuade Charles that persecution should be renewed it was only partially completed and failed and its purpose. the king argued that both dissenters and Catholics were too numerous to be suppressed. From 1678 to 1683 the impact of the Popish Plot and and exclusion crisis cemented the alliance between the dissenters and there Whig allies even more firmly and development the ultimate backfired for the former.

in 1682-83 the failure of exclusion, the Rye House plot, the collapse of Whig support freed Charles to pursue his own agenda part of which was to renew the attack on dissent and on the source of Whig power associated with them especially through corporate boroughs and urban centres, where both thrived. the persecution of 1683-86 was the Harshest ever experienced in many places and in many areas meetings had to be abandoned for a certain length of time. reports from all areas indicated that raw determination was achieving what Sheldon and his Associates could not a Nationwide onslaught. In Devon the County Committee reported that dissenting groups had creased to meet, in West Yorkshire they meet at night, in Bristol the efforts of the mayor and corporation to alleviate the impact lead to a temporary suspension and even the Quakers reduced to meeting in the most remote places in the hopes of avoiding detection. when Charles embarked on the recall and amendment of Borough charters, with the intention of gaining control of both local administration and the MPs it produced, there was a prospect that things might become even worse.

Charles have already demonstrated some sympathy with non-conformist by attempting to suspend the Act of Uniformity in 1662, but the strength of anti puritan settlement in parliament and the church had made effective action impossible. despite this there were many who done the persecution look for load to be unacceptable. Within the Church there were many who held Latitudinarian views which signified a belief at some variation of religious views with rational and sensible. Among those holding to such views was Bishop John Wilkes whose scientific and academic background able to maintain common ground with Scholars of all kinds he also maintained a good relationship with Oliver Cromwell (he married into his Family). Wilkins and others argued from the outset that persecution was both irrational and counter-productive.

there were many others in the church is used for only slightly different from those of the non-conformists and were well aware of the fact. John Tillotson,who became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1691 who thought long and Deep about conforming in 1664. Similarly among with wealthy classes and the alderman and JPs who were responsible for enforcing law against the centre of the many has shared their views and conformed without enthusiasm.i n the mood of the early 1660s these men (and women) had offered help to individual Minister's but have found it difficult to speak against the persecution as a whole.

The changes had already been foreshadowed in 1669 by an attempt to introduce scheme for advising the act of uniformity in Parliament to allow the comprehension (the inclusion of a group specifically non-conformists within the Established Church) of most dissenters within the church (led by two Judges Sir Orlando Bridgerman and Sir Matthew Hale and supported by John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester.) the attempt rapidly failed it was a significant indication of opposition to persecution within the ruling elite and the church itself. in 1672 that opposition took on a new face when the conventicle act another persecution laws was suspended by the King himself, the Declaration of indulgence that would allow dissenters the freedom not to attend church and to meet in licence gatherings of their own.

changing attitudes, disgust against the excesses of the law, and the dignity with which many of the nonconformist bore their sufferings thought a change in the political climate of which Charles could take advantage. after the Fall of Clarendon in 1667- he was unfairly blamed for the failings of the Dutch War as well as the code that bore his name, neither of which he supported, Charles appointed a group of Close advisers who included two Catholics, One near-atheist and two who had close associations with moderate Puritanism. With Their support and possibly as a first step to alleviating the position of Catholics, he now felt able enough to challenge the High Court Anglicans and their parliamentary allies for control of policy.

when Fox was finally released in 1666 he was faced with a movement on the verge of collapse. already begun but had to restore some organisation in unity which fox encourage as he began to travel the length and breadth of the country. Despite some resistance from those who feared that free expression might be undermined, a meeting was held in York in 1668 in which proposes for a new structure will put together. Based on a system of District monthly meetings and an annual meeting in London run by central committee. the system 16 did in transforming a power but diffuse gathering of interests into a highly organised, disciplined church. in 1669 however this development was in it's early stages.

the situation that existed in 1669 was reflected in the reaction of Gilbert Sheldon (Archbishop of Canterbury), in campaigning for a new love the conventicle act. Dissent had not only survive but it begin to organise more effectively and Sheldon sought to draw attention to the need for firm action by conducting a survey to show its extent. There is evidence that orders were given to minimise members and many meetings were not included although some of this may resulted from sheer inefficiency. Sheldon intended to raise the alarm and renew persecution, but he did not believe all wish to suggest that the destruction of extent in groups has become impossible. led to the Second Conventicle Act of 1670 and a renewed onslaught but in so far as accurate records exist, they indicate a limited impact. To some extent this reflected the improved organisation within the dissenting groups but also reflected the change of attitude of many outside the rank of dissenters, who were simply just offended by the deliberate harassment of people with a new to be otherwise peaceful, respectful neighbours.