Non-juring clergy

Non-juring clergy
Name	Non-juring clergy
Period	17th–18th centuries
Main locations	Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of Ireland
Notable figures	William Sancroft, Thomas Ken, George Hickes, Robert Nelson, John Kettlewell
Causes	Oath of Allegiance controversies, Glorious Revolution, disputes over Succession to the Crown

Non-juring clergy were Christian clerics in the Church of England, Church of Scotland, and associated churches who refused to take oaths of allegiance to monarchs after the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689. Their refusal produced a distinct separation from established ecclesiastical structures, generated theological debates about royal legitimacy, and affected relations among figures such as William III of England, Mary II of England, and later monarchs.

Origin and Historical Context

The movement arose during the upheaval surrounding the Glorious Revolution, the deposition of James II of England and the accession of William III of England and Mary II of England after the Bill of Rights 1689. High-status clerics including William Sancroft and Thomas Ken declined the Oath of Allegiance required by the Act of Settlement 1701 and other statutes, aligning their stance with earlier controversies like the English Civil War and the Restoration of Charles II. Tensions between loyalty to dynastic claims like those of the exiled Jacobite movement and prevailing magistrates shaped local disputes in dioceses such as Canterbury and in Scottish sees tied to the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Oaths and Theological Justifications

Non-jurors grounded refusal in a range of legalist and theological sources, invoking precedents such as the Act of Uniformity 1662 and concepts associated with jurists like Hugo Grotius and Samuel Pufendorf. They cited the doctrine of the divine right of kings linked to figures like James II of England and appealed to canonical authorities such as St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas for doctrines of rightful sovereignty. The issue involved documents including the Oath of Allegiance (UK) and the Coronation Oath. Prominent apologists like John Kettlewell and polemicists such as George Hickes produced tracts that engaged with theologians including Richard Hooker and contested positions advanced by statesmen such as John Locke and Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury.

Nonjuring Schism and Key Figures

The schism featured leaders and intellectuals across ecclesiastical and lay circles. Episcopal leaders such as William Sancroft, Thomas Ken, and William Lloyd were central, while scholars and patrons like George Hickes, Robert Nelson, and Henry Dodwell articulated doctrinal defenses. Jacobite sympathizers including James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender") intersected with Nonjuring networks. Critics and government opponents included Gilbert Burnet and John Tillotson, and parliamentary actors like Sir Robert Walpole later intersected with the legacy. The circle produced liturgical innovations influenced by Jeremy Taylor and polemical exchanges with authors such as Daniel Defoe.

Institutional Consequences and Succession Disputes

Refusal to swear allegiance led to deprivation of benefices, removal from sees, and competing lines of episcopal succession. In England, deprived bishops in sees like Canterbury and Ely created alternative ordination practices and episcopal consecrations outside the established bench, provoking legal challenges under statutes enforced by Parliament of England and later the Parliament of Great Britain. In Scotland, the interaction with the Scottish Episcopal Church produced separate episcopal rolls and succession disputes involving bishops like Arthur Rose and later figures tied to the United Societies. Claims to apostolic succession and valid orders were litigated in pamphlet wars involving canonists and advocates connected with institutions such as Oxford University and Cambridge University.

Influence on Religious and Political Life

The Nonjuring movement affected clergy networks, charitable societies, and High Church practices, intersecting with lay patrons including Henry Sacheverell sympathizers and Tory politicians. Its theological emphases influenced later Anglo-Catholic and High Church revivalists and fed into debates involving the Oxford Movement antecedents, the thought of scholars like Edward Stillingfleet, and the liturgical scholarship of figures such as William Laud. Politically, Nonjurors sustained links with the Jacobite rising of 1715 and the Jacobite rising of 1745 by offering moral support or sanctuary to exiles like Charles Edward Stuart. Their polemics shaped writings by legal theorists including Hobbes-influenced critics and encouraged the production of ritual manuals and devotional works circulated among networks in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin.

Decline, Reconciliation, and Legacy

By the late 18th century the movement diminished as generations passed, some Nonjurors reconciled with the established churches, and changing political realities—such as the consolidation under the House of Hanover—reduced Jacobite prospects. Legacy persisted in ecclesiastical memory through collections held at institutions like Bodleian Library and in the influence on liturgical scholarship later cited by proponents of the Oxford Movement and Anglo-Catholicism. Biographical attention to figures such as Thomas Ken and historiography by writers including Samuel Johnson and later historians preserved their writings and shaped modern understanding of conscience, oath-taking, and the interplay of religion and politics in early modern Britain.

Category:Religious history of the United Kingdom