Protestants, Quakers, and the Narrative of Religious Persecution in England

Abstract

In early modern England, religious intolerance reigned supreme. There was a pervading hostility towards religious groups that were not associated with the Church of England, and these dissenting religious groups were regularly persecuted for their differing views. While each sectarian group was unique, there are parallels that can be traced between the persecutions that occurred throughout this period. Among these 16 th-and 17 th-century dissenting groups are Protestants and Quakers, whose responses to persecution are strikingly similar. This essay seeks to trace the commonalities between these two religious groups, with the aim of gaining a more nuanced understanding of religious intolerance in a period hostile to religious nonconformity. First, it is imperative to understand the distinction between Protestants and Quakers as employed in this essay. Although Quakers are generally classified under the wider umbrella of Protestantism, they are considered as separate groups in this analysis for two primary reasons. First, the time periods examined for the Protestants and Quakers in this analysis is different; this research examines Protestants of the 16 th century and female Quakers of the mid-17th century. Second, female Quakers receive special consideration for this analysis because they were singled out and persecuted, even after Protestantism had become tolerated across England; since that is the case, female Quakers' stories diverge from the larger story of Protestantism. Although Protestantism as a whole had achieved wide approbation by the mid-17 th century, public sentiment towards Quakers—also a Protestant group—was still low. While there was no longer a significant need for Protestants to gain approval in society, Quakers were still harried and sometimes killed for their beliefs. 1 The research was conducted by examining the representation of female Quakers in pamphlets from Early English Books Online (EEBO), a database containing digitized primary source archives from the period. Also, quotes from journal articles that relied on primary source documents of Quakers were included in this survey. From there, I reviewed John Foxe's Acts and Monuments and sought out parallels between Foxe's work and documents relating to female Quakers. Female Quakers were of particular interest for this study because, while all Quakers experienced persecution, female Quaker persecution was more marked. Female Quakers were better known for crossing the boundaries of propriety, mainly because the realm of " acceptable actions " for women was still so small—it was easy to act in unacceptable ways when virtually all actions are deemed unacceptable. The ultimate …