Anglican the Religion of the Church of England, Also Adhered to by the Church of Ireland

Anglican – the religion of the Church of England, also adhered to by the Church of Ireland and the Episcopalian Church in Scotland, though the term only really came into being after 1660. Key doctrines laid down in the 39 Articles (1563). A Protestant theology, which assimilates elements of Calvinism, but a traditional ‘episcopal’ structure of bishops and the retention of some church rituals and illuminations influenced by pre-Reformation practises.

Arminian - the theology loosely associated with the Laudian movement in the Church of England. Moves way from Calvinist beliefs to place more emphasis on free will and church ceremonies as a means of entering into the grace of God. The original Arminians were more moderate Calvinist grouping within the Dutch Reformed Church.

Calvinist –the religion of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland and Ulster and the English Puritans/ Dissenters, in line with the Protestant influences taken from the Netherlands and much of Switzerland Germany. Alongside a theology of predestination, Calvinists believe in stripped down ceremonies and churches, with a focus on sermons and bible readings. Purer renderings of the creed would entail abolition of bishops.

Church of Ireland: the established church in Ireland after the Reformation. Protestant and Anglican.

Church of Scotland (the ‘Kirk’): the established Church of Scotland. Protestant after the Reformation and predominantly Presbyterian in its services and organisation up to 1660. Then Episcopalian through to 1689, then returned to Presbyterian hands.

Congregationalist – a term used to define the American variant of an Independent by 1700. The dominant religious grouping in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Country Party – a label used by various opposition groups in the Westminster and Edinburgh Parliaments. Refers especially to the opponents of Charles II who went on to adopt the label ‘Whig’. Later adopted by radical Whig critics of William III. Name also used by the anti-Union party in the Edinburgh Parliament 1701-7.

Covenanters – Militant and often radical Presbyterians in Scotland. Refers originally to those who signed the policies of Charles I in 1638; later alludes to rebels fighting against Charles II in protest against the imposition of the Episcopalian church.

Dissenter (also Nonconformist): English Protestants who do not recognise the Church of England after 1662. Includes many former Puritans. Most are Presbyterian or Independent. The term also includes Quakers.

Episcopalian – quite literally, a church governed by bishops. Refers in this period to Scottish Anglicans (see above). Episcopalianism the official religion in Scotland 1660-1689. James I and Charles I had tried to introduce Episcopalian elements before 1640 – hence the reaction of the Bishops’ Wars.

High Church –English term, arising c. 1700, to refer to the section of the Anglican church that stressed the importance of bishops, ritual and ceremony. The ideological descendant of the Laudian movement. Associated politically with the Tory party. Independent – a very loose religious term, referring to those Puritans who reject the idea not merely of bishops but of a national church altogether, and therefore differ not merely from Anglicans but from Presbyterians. They want churches organised entirely by local congregations. The most significant Independent in this period is Oliver Cromwell. Many Baptists also fall under this label.

Jacobite – a supporter of the exiled Stuarts after 1688 i.e. James II and his son James Edward Stuart, ‘the Pretender’. Jacobitism concentrated in Catholic Ireland and Episicopalian Scotland, but with some support from English Catholics and a number of Tories.

The Kirk – the colloquial name for the Church of Scotland.

Laudianism: a traditionalist, conservative movement within the Church of England: Protestant, but emphasising a high level of continuity with the Medieval past in ritual and practise. Associated with an Arminian rather than a Calvinist theology, a greater level of church ritual and illumination, and more power for bishops and monarchs over the Church. Foreshadows High Church ideas.

Low Church - English term in use by end of the period, c. 1700. Associated with the wing of the Anglican Church that stressed bible-reading over ritual, and is hostile to the power of bishops. Whigs in politics. Some (but not all Low Churchmen) lean towards a Calvinist theology, but not as strongly as the Presbyterians.

Mercantilism – commercial ideology, promoting the importance of a national economic policy. Contends that trade is the source of national wealth, and that trade should be regulated and directed by laws to serve the interests of a particular state. Its advocates argue that trade is a zero sum game - resources are finite and if lost by one state, will be gained by another. Develops in the later C17th, associated with Louis XIV’s France and the Dutch Republic. Shapes the English Navigation Acts.

New English – English, mainly Protestant planters and settlers in Ireland; arrived especially under Elizabeth I.

Nonconformist – see Dissenter.

Old English – Irishmen and women of Anglo-Norman descent (e.g. Fitzgeralds, Butlers, Burkes): the community that had ruled Ireland between the Medieval English conquest (1172) and the reforms of Henry VIII. Mainly Catholic.

Old Irish – the Gaelic Irish.

Popery –an abusive term for ‘Catholicism’, but comes to refer to all practises popularly associated with Catholic states and kingdoms e.g. intolerance towards Calvinists, powerful bishops, absolutist monarchs, large armies. Used by Puritans against Laudians and by Low Churchmen against Hugh Churchmen.

Presbyterian - literally refers to a church governed by assemblies of elders, including laymen, and not by bishops; becomes closely associated churches that endorse the Calvinist religion. The Scottish Reformation takes a Presbyterian form through the influence of John Knox and Andrew Melville, and is governed by a General Assembly of elders, though James VI reintroduces bishops as largely symbolic figures. Scotland becomes fully Presbyterian again with the 1689 Revolution settlement. Most, but not all, English Puritans want a Presbyterian Church.

Puritan – A loose term for English or American Calvinist Protestants who reject illuminated churches and lavish rituals, and increasingly (although not necessarily) reject the idea of bishops. Most Puritans are Presbyterian; some are Independent. The term is mainly relevant before 1642; with the Restoration, Puritans are forced out of the Church of England and become Dissenters.

Quaker – small denomination of Dissenters, founded during the 1650s. Opposed to idea of priests and bishops, but not Calvinist in theology: more radical belief in direct connection through prayer of God and the believer. Originate in England – spread into America (found Pennsylvania) and Ireland. A small number in Scotland.

Recusant – the legal term for someone penalised for not attending services of the established churches in England, Scotland or Ireland. Comes to refer especially to Catholics.

Root and Branch Bill - legislation put before the Westminster Parliament by the Puritan opponents of Charles I in 1641 to turn the Church of England into a {Presbyterians church, without bishops.

Tory - political party formed in England during the Exclusion Crisis in support of the Duke of York. Call themselves heirs to the royalists of the Civil War. Anglican in religion. The word is originally an abusive term, referring to Irish cattle thieves.

Whig - political party formed in England during the Exclusion Crisis in opposition to the Duke of York. Support the rights of Parliament against the Crown. Leaders mainly Anglican, but support the civil liberties of Dissenters. The word is originally an abusive term, referring to Scottish Covenanters.