The essays contained in this volume examine the particular religious experiences of women within a remarkably vibrant and formative era in British religious history. Scholars from the disciplines of history, literary studies and theology assess women's contributions to renewal, change and reform; and consider the ways in which women negotiated institutional and intellectual boundaries. The focus on women's various religious roles and responses helps us to understand better a world of religious commitment which was not separate from, but also not exclusively shaped by, the political, intellectual and ecclesiastical disputes of a clerical elite. As well as deepening our understanding of both popular and elite religious cultures in this period, and the links between them, the volume re-focuses scholarly approaches to the history of gender and especially the history of feminism by setting the British writers often characterised as 'early feminists' firmly in their theological and spiritual traditions.

This original interpretation of the lives and social interactions of Quaker women in the British Atlantic between 1650 and 1750 highlights the unique ways in which adherence to the movement shaped women's lives, as well as the ways in which female Friends transformed seventeenth- and eighteenth-century religious and political culture.

This edited volume examines how individuals and communities defined and negotiated the boundaries between inclusion and exclusion in England between 1550 and 1800. It aims to uncover how men, women, and children from a wide range of social and religious backgrounds experienced and enacted exclusion in their everyday lives. Negotiating Exclusion takes a fresh and challenging look at early modern England’s distinctive cultures of exclusion under three broad themes: exclusion and social relations; the boundaries of community; and exclusions in ritual, law, and bureaucracy. The volume shows that exclusion was a central feature of everyday life and social relationships in this period. Its chapters also offer new insights into how the history of exclusion can be usefully investigated through different sources and innovative methodologies, and in relation to the experiences of people not traditionally defined as "marginal." The book includes a comprehensive overview of the historiography of exclusion and chapters from leading scholars. This makes it an ideal introduction to exclusion for students and researchers of early modern English and European history. Due to its strong theoretical underpinnings, it will also appeal to modern historians and sociologists interested in themes of identity, inclusion, exclusion, and community.

1714 was a revolutionary year for Dissenters across the British Empire. The Hanoverian Succession upended a political and religious order antagonistic to Protestant non-conformity and replaced it with a regime that was, ostensibly, sympathetic to the Whig interest. The death of Queen Anne and the dawn of Hanoverian Rule presented Dissenters with fresh opportunities and new challenges as they worked to negotiate and legitimize afresh their place in the polity. Negotiating Toleration: Dissent and the Hanoverian Succession, 1714-1760 examines how Dissenters and their allies in a range of geographic contexts confronted and adapted to the Hanoverian order. Collectively, the contributors reveal that though generally overlooked compared to the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9 or the Act of Union in 1707, 1714 was a pivotal moment with far reaching consequences for dissenters at home and abroad. By decentralizing the narrative beyond England and exploring dissenting reactions in Scotland, Ireland, and North America, the collection demonstrates the extent to which the Succession influenced the politics and touched the lives of ordinary people across the British Atlantic world. As well as offering a thorough breakdown of confessional tensions within Britain during the short and medium terms, this authoritative volume also marks the first attempt to look at the complex interaction between religious communities in consequence of the Hanoverian Succession.

What did it mean to be a Covenanter?