Book of Common Prayer (1637)

Book of Common Prayer (1637)

The 1637 Book of Common Prayer was a liturgical book produced under the authority of Charles I and William Laud for use in Scotland and intended to align Anglicanism with the Church of Scotland's practice, provoking conflict across London, Edinburgh, and the kingdoms of England and Scotland. Its publication intersected with events such as the Personal Rule of Charles I, the rise of Presbyterianism, the actions of the Scottish Covenanters, and the political crises that culminated in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the English Civil War. The edition's production, ritual content, and ceremonial innovations were central to ecclesiastical disputes involving figures like Laud and institutions including the Privy Council of Scotland and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

Background and Context

The 1637 prayer book emerged amid tensions between Anglicanism proponents such as William Laud and Charles I and Scottish Presbyterians linked to leaders like Alexander Henderson and movements represented by the National Covenant. Developments in London and Oxford University shaped liturgical revision debates alongside precedents such as the 1549 Book of Common Prayer and the 1559 edition debated during the English Reformation and contested in courts influenced by the Star Chamber. The prayer book's designs reflected influences from Canterbury Cathedral, St Giles' Cathedral, and continental practices observed in Geneva and Augsburg, and its promulgation intersected with policies of Wentworth and administrative measures of the Privy Council of England.

Production and Contents

The 1637 edition was overseen by William Laud with printing authorised by Charles I and produced in Edinburgh by printers associated with the Scottish Privy Council; the process involved craftsmen and institutions such as the Stationers' Company in London and typographers practiced in Leith. Its contents included revised rites for the Holy Communion, the Order for Morning Prayer, the Order for Evening Prayer, and new ceremonial directions influenced by Sarum Rite survivals and continental ceremonial manuals used in Canterbury and Westminster Abbey. The book introduced specific rubrics for altars resembling those in St Paul's Cathedral and sacramental observances that echoed innovations debated at Westminster and referenced liturgical scholarship associated with Richard Hooker and John Cosin. It contained prefaces and canons reflecting the theological positions of Laud and the ecclesiastical policy of Charles I and incorporated marginalia and rubrics that altered posture and ceremonial language familiar from the 1552 prayer book and the 1604 edition.

Reception and Controversy

The book provoked immediate opposition from Scottish Presbyterians, urban crowds in Edinburgh and provincial kirk sessions, and political actors tied to the Scottish Covenanters, including leaders such as Lord Warriston. Protests included riots at St Giles' Cathedral and episodes involving figures from Edinburgh University and the civic corporation of Edinburgh. The backlash mobilised alliances across Northumberland and northern England and influenced parliamentary debates in Westminster leading up to sessions of the Long Parliament. Contemporary critics invoked precedents from the Marian Persecutions and pamphlets circulated in networks linking London, Amsterdam, and Leiden; supporters cited authority from Canterbury and royal commissions including agents of Charles I and officials like Richard Neile. Litigation, petitions, and public assemblies culminated in the 1638 Signing of the National Covenant and the subsequent military and political confrontations that connected to the Bishops' Wars.

Impact and Legacy

The 1637 prayer book accelerated institutional realignments that fed into the Bishops' Wars, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, and the convulsions of the English Civil War, affecting trajectories of statesmen such as Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Fairfax, and clerics like Samuel Rutherford. Its failure in Scotland reshaped the fortunes of Laud and consolidated Presbyterian ascendancy embodied by the Kirk and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland; it also influenced later liturgical restorations under Charles II and the compilation of post-Restoration rites including the 1662 edition. Historians of religion and politics such as Saintsbury, S. R. Gardiner, and modern scholars at institutions like University of Oxford and University of Edinburgh treat the episode as pivotal for the interplay of liturgy, polity, and conflict in early modern Britain.

Surviving Copies and Editions

Surviving copies of the 1637 book are held in collections at institutions including the National Library of Scotland, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the Advocates Library, and university libraries at Cambridge University and St Andrews University. Manuscript marginalia and provenances link individual copies to collectors such as George IV and antiquarians active in Glasgow and Dublin. Facsimiles and critical editions have been produced by presses connected to Oxford University Press, the Early English Text Society, and archives managed by the National Archives (United Kingdom), allowing comparative study alongside other liturgical texts like the 1552 edition and continental missals preserved in repositories at Vatican Library and Bibliothèque nationale de France. Current holdings are catalogued in union catalogues used by researchers at Rothamsted Research and digitised projects supported by consortia including the JISC and heritage initiatives coordinated with the Historic Environment Scotland.

Category:Book of Common Prayer