8,000 Dissenter martyrs revisited
Is this 8,000 martyrs an inflated figure for the Stuart persecution? Michael Watts in his magisterial first volume of his multi-volume work The Dissenters (Clarendon Press 1978), reckons that W.C. Braithwaite was correct when he stated that 15,000 Quakers alone suffered during this era by “fines, imprisonment, and transportation” into exile and 450 died in prison (p.236).
I just glanced at Gerald R. Cragg’s Puritanism in the Period of the Great Persecution, another great book on this era, but could see nothing where he gave statistics of those who died in prison.
If 450 Quakers died in prison, that would mean there were 7,500 other Dissenters from the Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Baptist ranks that perished in the prisons–and that seems unlikely to me as the Quakers suffered very heavily in this era.
Does anyone have any other statistics?
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September 1st, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Here are three other men’s estimates:
In John Marshall’s “John Locke, Toleration, and Early Enlightenment Culture”, Cambridge Univ Pr, 2006, page 95, footnote 5, he states:
William Penn estimated that more than 5000 dissenters died in prison in the restoration. Jeremy White, Cromwell’s chaplain, estimated the figure for Charles’ and James’ reigns at 5000. These figures are surely too high but since 450 Quakers alone died and many other dissenters were imprisoned, it is likely the death toll in prison alone was above 1000.
“Surely too high”? I suspect he’s right but he offers no supporting evidence; as such it is just an opinion. It reminds me of when people say “no doubt” which is a surefire clue that there is some. I presume he is quoting Braithwaite, but I don’t have access to that to see his supporting evidence or method.
Penn’s estimate is found in the conclusion to his 1687, “Good Advice to the Church of England…”:
“Shall I speak within our own Knowledge, and that without Offence, there has been Ruin’d, since the late King’s Restoration, above Fifteen Thousand Families, and more than Five Thousand Persons Dead under Bonds for Matters of meer Conscience to God.”
Penn’s claim appears to rest on personal acquaintance or common knowledge. Whatever the number, it was too many… Let us follow Hardcastle when he urges us to “make use of our present liberty”.
Ron
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Very helpful as usual, Ron. Thanks.