Nonjurors

Nonjurors were groups of clerics, laity, and intellectuals who refused to take oaths of allegiance following the events of 1688–1689, creating a distinct ecclesiastical and political faction within the British Isles. They emerged in the aftermath of the Glorious Revolution and had enduring effects on church polity, liturgy, theology, and Jacobite politics across England, Scotland, and Ireland. Their positions intersected with broader controversies involving monarchy, succession, and confessional identity well into the eighteenth century.

Origins and Historical Context

The movement arose after the accession disputes surrounding James II of England, the landing of William III of Orange and Mary II of England, and the parliamentary settlements epitomized by the Glorious Revolution and the Bill of Rights 1689. Refusal to take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy led to deprivation from sees and benefices, as seen in episodes involving William Sancroft, John Tillotson, Francis Atterbury, and Gilbert Burnet. The Nonjurors’ split occurred within institutions such as the Church of England, the Church of Ireland, and the Church of Scotland, intersecting with legal measures like the Act of Settlement 1701 and political movements including the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. Key contemporaries and antagonists included figures from the Whig and Tory camps, as well as ministers and bishops aligned with Convocation and diocesan authorities.

Political and Religious Beliefs

Nonjurors advanced doctrines emphasizing passive obedience and non-resistance associated with theologians such as Jeremy Taylor and pastoral leaders like Thomas Ken. They contested parliamentary theories promoted by actors around John Locke and opponents like Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury while aligning rhetorically with aspects of High Church theology and sacral monarchy linked to the memory of Charles I of England and the restoration settlement under Charles II of England. Theologically and politically they engaged with controversies involving Gallicanism, Febronianism, and debates on episcopal authority that also drew comparison with continental figures such as Fénelon and institutional models like the French Catholic Church. Prominent Nonjurors—Henry Dodwell, George Hickes, William Law, Robert Nelson—produced polemics and pastoral tracts addressing allegiance, succession, and the divine right of kings alongside practical treatises on liturgy and piety.

Clergy, Liturgical Practices, and Institutions

Deprived Nonjuring bishops and clergy preserved parallel episcopal succession and created alternative ecclesial structures, involving consecrations and ordinations that connected names such as George Hickes, Thomas Ken, and William Lloyd. They maintained distinctive liturgical forms influenced by the Book of Common Prayer while producing revised rites and devotional manuals that intersected with the work of Jeremy Collier, William Law, and John Kettlewell. Their networks extended to retreat houses, charitable societies, and printing circles spanning London, Oxford, Edinburgh, and Dublin—institutions sharing space with entities like Oxford University, Eton College, Westminster Abbey, and local diocesan centers. Conflicts with established church authorities involved legal remedies, ecclesiastical courts, and petitions to bodies such as Parliament and Convocation, while connections to salon and print culture linked them to publishers and intellectuals like Jacob Tonson and Edmund Calamy.

Influence on Culture, Thought, and Society

Nonjurors influenced devotional literature, hymnody, and theological reflection, leaving traces in the works of William Law, the pastoral writings of Jeremy Collier, and the translations and scholarship of George Hickes. Their stance affected artistic patronage and networks touching figures in the cultural sphere such as Alexander Pope, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Johnson through indirect theological and political alignments. Their presence shaped debates in universities and learned societies, intersecting with members of the Royal Society, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and antiquarian circles like Society of Antiquaries of London. Through engagement with continental thinkers, they contributed to wider discussions involving Enlightenment figures such as Voltaire, Pierre Bayle, and Lord Bolingbroke, influencing ideas on conscience, authority, and sacramental practice that resonated with later Anglo-Catholic and High Church renewals connected to movements around John Keble and Edward Pusey.

Decline, Legacy, and Modern Perspectives

By the late eighteenth century Nonjuring communities had largely diminished through aging membership, reconciliations, and legal and social integration, though their theological and liturgical legacies persisted into nineteenth-century revivals associated with Oxford Movement leaders like John Henry Newman, Edward Bouverie Pusey, and John Keble. Scholarly reassessment links Nonjuror writings to later currents in Anglican thought represented by Richard Hooker’s reception, Anglo-Catholic liturgical revision, and polemical histories addressing Jacobitism and the development of British constitutional settlement. Modern historiography situates them alongside studies of Restoration politics, ecclesiastical biography, and print culture involving archives held at institutions like the Bodleian Library, National Archives (UK), British Library, and various diocesan repositories. Their complex legacy informs debates on conscience, ecclesiastical authority, and the interplay of religion and politics in British history.

Category:History of Christianity in the United Kingdom Category:Jacobitism