I'm currently an Assistant Professor of History at Jacksonville State University. My work explores the social, cultural, and political consequences of religious diversity. I examine religious fault lines in Europe and the Atlantic World, assessing the reasons why toleration emerged in some regions while sectarian conflict persisted in others. Supervisors: Scott Sowerby , Deborah Cohen, and Ed Muir Phone: 7243313352 Address: 700 Pelham Rd N Jacksonville, AL 36265
The Cromwellian regime has long endured a one-dimensional reputation for anti-popery. Historians ... more The Cromwellian regime has long endured a one-dimensional reputation for anti-popery. Historians are beginning to challenge this view, pointing to the relative absence of religious persecution during Oliver Cromwell’s tenure as Lord Protector. Cromwell massacred Catholic rebels at Wexford and Drogheda in Ireland, but he did not compel Catholics to attend church, and does not seem to have hunted priests as vigorously as his predecessors. This article explores the impact of Cromwellian rule on the Catholic community in Scotland, where the military governor George Monck granted Catholics a significant degree of effective toleration. Monck prohibited the Presbyterian church from subjecting Catholics to ecclesiastical discipline, and actively intervened to protect Catholics if kirk sessions and other church courts summoned them anyway. In return, many Catholics ostentatiously professed their loyalty to the commonwealth. Although Monck did not repeal Scotland’s penal laws, his intervention demonstrates that the commonwealth’s liberty for ‘tender consciences’ trickled down to those formally excluded from it. Cromwellian officials in Scotland would not allow any institution to coerce one's inward beliefs, even if it meant defending known Catholics from a Protestant kirk.
In the decades following the Scottish Reformation, Scottish parliaments passed a series of penal ... more In the decades following the Scottish Reformation, Scottish parliaments passed a series of penal laws against Catholics and expressions of Catholic religious practice. In an act of 1594 the death penalty was prescribed on the first offence for wilfully hearing Mass; but no Scot was ever executed for hearing Mass. The same law of 1594 encouraged local presbyteries to convert any suspected Catholic under their jurisdiction. As historians of the Scottish Reformation begin to appreciate the crucial role that kirk sessions played in suppressing Scottish Catholicism, this article adds to recent studies which seek to offer a corrective to much previous scholarship on the persecution of Scottish Catholics – which tended to focus almost exclusively on civil enforcement – and explores the impact of parish church courts on Scottish Catholicism, highlighting the effectiveness of public penance, shaming, and psychological pressure as the most useful tools for enforcing uniformity.
This article claims that men and women in mixed marriages often subverted patriarchal norms when ... more This article claims that men and women in mixed marriages often subverted patriarchal norms when attempting to escape ecclesiastical censure in early modern Scotland. Ministers held husbands responsible for ensuring the conformity of their households, and they insisted that Protestant husbands bring their wives into the fold. These husbands then argued that they had no right to compel their wives in matters of conscience. Some even insisted that they had no control over their wives whatsoever. They were willing to appear failing in their patriarchal duties in order to protect their wives from the kirk, which was loath to interfere much further in marital relationships. Married women risked excommunication for their defiance, but local authorities were unable to confiscate any of their assets, which were held in trust by their husbands. Catholic women thus used the patriarchal assumptions of religious authorities as a means of undermining religious conformity.
On 3 September 1651, Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army smashed a beleaguered Scottish force at the... more On 3 September 1651, Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army smashed a beleaguered Scottish force at the Battle of Worchester, scattering the survivors and putting an end to the wars that engulfed the British Isles over the previous decade. By late October Cromwell’s armies had completed their conquest of Scotland, prompting anguished soul-searching within the country’s once proud Presbyterian kirk. Although the General Assembly hopefully proclaimed that “the successe of that partie proves not the goodness of their cause,” many wondered how the blessed forces of “God’s New Israel could have failed so spectacularly, leading to the loss of national independence and a forced union with their southern neighbor. One Scottish group, however, was significantly less dismayed by the Covenanter defeat on the battlefield. Rather than mourn the English conquest, Scotland’s small Catholic population hailed Oliver Cromwell as their deliverer from Presbyterian tyranny. This paper explains why Scottish Catholics welcomed Cromwell, a man whose massacres in Ireland were well known, and a man who saw Catholicism as a “false, abominable and Anticrhistian doctrine” full of “useless orders and traditions”. It is part of a larger project on anti-popery and religious toleration’s failure to rise in early modern Scotland.
The Cromwellian regime has long endured a one-dimensional reputation for anti-popery. Historians ... more The Cromwellian regime has long endured a one-dimensional reputation for anti-popery. Historians are beginning to challenge this view, pointing to the relative absence of religious persecution during Oliver Cromwell’s tenure as Lord Protector. Cromwell massacred Catholic rebels at Wexford and Drogheda in Ireland, but he did not compel Catholics to attend church, and does not seem to have hunted priests as vigorously as his predecessors. This article explores the impact of Cromwellian rule on the Catholic community in Scotland, where the military governor George Monck granted Catholics a significant degree of effective toleration. Monck prohibited the Presbyterian church from subjecting Catholics to ecclesiastical discipline, and actively intervened to protect Catholics if kirk sessions and other church courts summoned them anyway. In return, many Catholics ostentatiously professed their loyalty to the commonwealth. Although Monck did not repeal Scotland’s penal laws, his intervention demonstrates that the commonwealth’s liberty for ‘tender consciences’ trickled down to those formally excluded from it. Cromwellian officials in Scotland would not allow any institution to coerce one's inward beliefs, even if it meant defending known Catholics from a Protestant kirk.
In the decades following the Scottish Reformation, Scottish parliaments passed a series of penal ... more In the decades following the Scottish Reformation, Scottish parliaments passed a series of penal laws against Catholics and expressions of Catholic religious practice. In an act of 1594 the death penalty was prescribed on the first offence for wilfully hearing Mass; but no Scot was ever executed for hearing Mass. The same law of 1594 encouraged local presbyteries to convert any suspected Catholic under their jurisdiction. As historians of the Scottish Reformation begin to appreciate the crucial role that kirk sessions played in suppressing Scottish Catholicism, this article adds to recent studies which seek to offer a corrective to much previous scholarship on the persecution of Scottish Catholics – which tended to focus almost exclusively on civil enforcement – and explores the impact of parish church courts on Scottish Catholicism, highlighting the effectiveness of public penance, shaming, and psychological pressure as the most useful tools for enforcing uniformity.
This article claims that men and women in mixed marriages often subverted patriarchal norms when ... more This article claims that men and women in mixed marriages often subverted patriarchal norms when attempting to escape ecclesiastical censure in early modern Scotland. Ministers held husbands responsible for ensuring the conformity of their households, and they insisted that Protestant husbands bring their wives into the fold. These husbands then argued that they had no right to compel their wives in matters of conscience. Some even insisted that they had no control over their wives whatsoever. They were willing to appear failing in their patriarchal duties in order to protect their wives from the kirk, which was loath to interfere much further in marital relationships. Married women risked excommunication for their defiance, but local authorities were unable to confiscate any of their assets, which were held in trust by their husbands. Catholic women thus used the patriarchal assumptions of religious authorities as a means of undermining religious conformity.
On 3 September 1651, Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army smashed a beleaguered Scottish force at the... more On 3 September 1651, Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army smashed a beleaguered Scottish force at the Battle of Worchester, scattering the survivors and putting an end to the wars that engulfed the British Isles over the previous decade. By late October Cromwell’s armies had completed their conquest of Scotland, prompting anguished soul-searching within the country’s once proud Presbyterian kirk. Although the General Assembly hopefully proclaimed that “the successe of that partie proves not the goodness of their cause,” many wondered how the blessed forces of “God’s New Israel could have failed so spectacularly, leading to the loss of national independence and a forced union with their southern neighbor. One Scottish group, however, was significantly less dismayed by the Covenanter defeat on the battlefield. Rather than mourn the English conquest, Scotland’s small Catholic population hailed Oliver Cromwell as their deliverer from Presbyterian tyranny. This paper explains why Scottish Catholics welcomed Cromwell, a man whose massacres in Ireland were well known, and a man who saw Catholicism as a “false, abominable and Anticrhistian doctrine” full of “useless orders and traditions”. It is part of a larger project on anti-popery and religious toleration’s failure to rise in early modern Scotland.
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