Contents
List of Figures		vi
List of Drawings by Ray Brown		vii
Preface		viii
Location Maps		x
Chapter 1 - Witham		1
Chapter 2 - Useful Information		8
Christianity		8
	Clergymen	10
	Churchwardens	10
Wills and Will Preambles		12
	Preambles	13
The Church Courts		14
	Organisation	14
	Meeting places, Colchester archdeaconry area	15
	Court officers	16
	Nature of court business and punishments	18
	Volume of court business	20
Education, Reading and Writing		23
	The purpose of education	23
	Teachers	23
	Literacy: reading	23
	Literacy: writing and signatures	25
Chapter 3 - Henry VIII, 1509-1547		29
Background		29
Early Protestants in Essex		30
	Accusations of heresy in Essex	30
	Protestant will preambles in Essex	30
Christopher, Dyonise, and Joan Raven, Thomas Hills, and John and Richard Chapman, of Witham		32
Christopher Royden of Witham		35
Tradition and its Erosion in Witham		37
	Clergymen	37
	Tradition in Witham wills	38
Overview		41
Chapter 4 - Edward VI, 1547-1553, and Mary I, 1553-1558		42
Edward VI, 1547-1553		42
	Witham church during Edward's reign	42
	Dissent during Edward's reign	42
	Will preambles in Essex and Witham during Edward's reign	43
Mary I		44
	Accusations of Protestant heresy in Essex during Mary's reign	44
	Protestant will preambles in Essex and Witham during Mary's reign	45
'Mixed' Will Preambles in Witham and Essex, 1543-1560		45
	Minor Witham churchmen writing mixed preambles	47
William Love, Vicar of Witham 1536-1560		48
	Traditional associates of William Love	48
Overview		49
Chapter 5 - Elizabeth I (part 1), 1558-c.1583		50
Background		50
Puritanism		50
Secular Officials		50
	Magistrates	50
	Officers of the half-hundred	53
	Parish constables	53
Clergymen		53
Edward Halys, vicar of Witham 1560-1587		53
	Curates	54
Teaching		54
Will Preambles		55
	Joan Raven	55
	Preambles taken from William Tracy	56
Offences Taken to Court		57
	Secular courts	57
	Church courts	57
Overview		58
Chapter 6 - Elizabeth I (part 2), c.1583-1603		59
Economic and Social Difficulties		59
Secular Officials		59
	Magistrates	59
	Half-hundred and parish officers	60
Clergymen		60
	John Sterne, vicar 1587-1608	60
	Curates	60
Teaching		61
Will Preambles		61
The Secular Courts		61
	Crime	61
	Vagrants and lodgers and employment	62
The Church Courts		63
	Churchwardens	63
	Amount of business	64
	Non-payment of rates	64
	Discipline	64
	Sundays, and church attendance	65
Anti-Catholicism		66
	The Southcotts and Southwells	67
	Other Witham Catholics of the late sixteenth century; Bayles, Ridgleys and Campions	69
	Thomas Campion	70
	Other possible Catholics	70
Witchcraft		70
Overview		71
Chapter 7 - James I, 1603-1625		72
Background		72
The Barnardistons		72
Secular Officials		74
	Magistrates	74
	Half-hundred and parish officers	75
Clergymen		75
	Vicars	75
	Curates and a lecturer	76
Edmund Halys		77
Teaching		78
Will Preambles		79
Discipline and the Courts, 1603-c.1611		79
	The events of 1604	79
	Churchwardens, 1603-c.1611	80
Discipline and the Courts, c.1611-1625		81
	Churchwardens, c.1611-1625	81
	Adultery and fornication	81
	Alehouses and drinking	82
	Drinking and disorder on Sundays and feast days	83
	Sunday games	84
	Sunday working	84
	Absence from church	85
	Church pews	85
Overview		86
Chapter 8 - Charles I - interlude - The Forced Loan of 1626, and St. Patrick's Day 1628		87
Background		87
The Forced Loan of 1626		87
Billeting Soldiers in Essex		89
The Move to Witham		90
St. Patrick's Day, Monday 17 March 1628		92
Aftermath		95
Overview		96
Chapter 9 - Charles I (part), 1625-1640		97
Background		97
Local Officials		98
	Robert Aylett	98
	Magistrates	98
	Other local secular officials	99
	Churchwardens	99
Dame Katherine Barnardiston and Her Friends		99
	Her place in society	99
	Her beliefs	100
	Ministers	100
	Contacts in Witham	102
Local Clergymen		103
	Francis Wright, vicar of Witham 1625-1643 and 1660-1668	103
	Curates and teachers	104
	Thomas Weld, vicar of Terling 1625-1631	104
1625-c.1628: Witham Parishioners' Protests, and the First Visits to Terling		104
1628-1632: Official Involvement, and More Visits to Terling		106
	The high constable and Francis Wright	106
	Thomas Weld in trouble	107
	The consistory court at Kelveden, December 1631	108
	Witham churchwardens	109
	Other parishioners, 1631	110
	Opposition to curate Thomas Herris	111
1632-1636: Possible Puritan Caution		111
	The mystery list of names, and the 'unlawful meeting' of 1634	111
	Other activity in Witham, 1632-1636	112
	Catholics	112
	Francis Wright and the Court of High Commission, 1632-1635	113
1637-1640: Puritans to the Fore Again		114
	Francis Wright at the Bishop's Commissary court	114
	Irreverence	115
	Communion rails	115
Overview		116
	Studies of other places	116
	Witham	118
Chapter 10 - The Long Parliament and the Civil War, 1640-1660		119
Background		119
	Religion	120
Essex Before the War, 1640-1642		121
Local Disturbances, 1642		121
	Thomas Bayles of Witham	121
Parliament's Organisation and Support		122
	The Committees	122
	Magistrates	122
	Half-hundred officers	123
	Soldiers and other supporters	123
The King's Supporters		126
	Henry Nevill	126
	John Southcott	127
	The Ayloffes	128
Running Witham		128
	Before the war, 1640-1642	128
	The Parliamentarian petition of January 1642	129
	The 'Royalist' petition of 1643	130
	The sequestration of vicar Francis Wright, 1643	130
	Vicars after 1643	132
	The sequestrators of the vicarage	132
	Local affairs, 1643-1660	133
Reiligious Separatism		135
	Quakerism	135
Overview		137
Chapter 11 - Charles II, 1660-1685, James II, 1685-1688, and William and Mary, 1689-1702		138
Background		138
Local Officials		139
	Magistrates	139
	Half-hundred officers	139
	Secular parish officers	140
	Churchwardens	140
Vicars		141
	The return of Francis Wright, 1660-1668	141
	John Harper, 1668-1670, Thomas Cox, 1670-1676, Thomas Brett, 1676-1680	142
	Jonas Warley, 1680-1722	143
	Other clergy and teachers	143
Dissent		144
Quakerism		144
	Success and expansion, 1660-c.1680	144
	Quakers' role in the town	147
	The Quakers and the poor	148
	Quakers and tithes	149
	Change in the Quaker meeting, c.1680 onwards	149
Nonconformists		152
	Travelling preachers	152
	George Lisle	154
	Edmund Taylor	156
	Lay nonconformists	157
Catholicism		159
Overview		159
Chapter 12 - Post Script		160
Acceptance		160
Wealth and Status		160
Continuity		161
Appendices		162
Notes		171
Sources		193
Index		200

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