Suffolk Committees for Scandalous Ministers 1644-46

In the 1640s Parliament intervened against clergymen with Royalist sympathies, and in the political jargon of the time they were referred to as 'Scandalous Ministers'. As the Civil War developed two Suffolk committees were empowered to hear evidence against any minister (or schoolmaster) who was 'scandalous' in either life or doctrine, or in any way 'malignant' (ill-affected to Parliament). This volume shows how the national split was mirrored in a Suffolkvillage with questions of allegiance being posed at parish level. The records in this book are, for the most part, the charges bought by Suffolk parishioners, and provide an account of popular religious beliefs. Perhaps most valuable are the splendid cameos of rural life; of the constables of Blyford undertaking a midnight raid on an unlicenced alehouse to impress soldiers; of the Christmas celebrations at Little Cornard; of Nicholas Stoneham watching a Sunday football match at Eyke.