This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Death, piety, and social engagement in the life of the seventeenth century London artisan, Nehemiah Wallington By Robert M. Oswald, III Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2011 Declaration I declare that this thesis has been composed by myself, and that the work contained therein is my own, and has not been submitted for any other degree or professional qualification. _________________________________________________ ii Abstract Previous studies of the seven extant manuscripts of the seventeenth century Londoner, Nehemiah Wallington, have focused on the psychological effects of Puritan theology as the cause for his deep spiritual crisis and for his uncontrollable urge to document his inner mental and emotional experiences in a diary or journal. This thesis takes a somewhat different approach, starting from a prominent and recurrent theme in Wallington’s manuscripts: his thoughts of and experiences with death. From an early age, Wallington lost close family members to illness. Four of his five children died in early childhood. He lived through outbreaks of plague, and recorded into his manuscripts casualties wrought by civil war and inexplicable accidents that took place around him in the City of London. Evidence from what Wallington wrote about these events in his manuscripts indicates that he responded to his frequent encounters with human mortality through his understanding and practice of Puritan theology and piety. Responding to death through religious belief and observance was not an innovation: some have argued that the late medieval Catholic Church in England provided, through the Mass and the doctrine of purgatory, ways to respond to death that brought comfort and inspired fresh engagement with the world. Yet scholars have tended to see Wallington’s recourse to Puritan religion as something that made him want to throw his life away in suicidal despair, rather than as a means to ease his sorrows and encourage him to engage with society again (in other words, as a means to come to terms with death which in some ways paralleled the momentum of older Catholic devotion, but in a new and distinctively Reformed context). Studies of Wallington’s despair have focused only on a particular youthful episode. However, this thesis will look at the theme of death over Wallington’s lifelong pursuit of Puritan theology and piety. From an examination of his seven extant manuscripts, it will show not only how Wallington turned to Puritan theology and piety in the face of death, but also how his understanding and approach changed over time. His response developed from a compulsive emotional reaction to a clear strategy that involved reflecting on death in his own experiences of loss, as well as in the Bible and other printed materials, all of which he recorded in his manuscripts for others to read. Wallington’s decision to write down his reflections led him out of despair and the temptation to abandon his life, to express in his later manuscripts an active desire to engage with the world around him out of faith and trust in the vivifying power of Christ. The thesis starts with an introduction to Nehemiah Wallington and his context, and to the theme of death in his extant manuscripts (chapter one). Next, it explores how Wallington responded to his encounters with death by taking up writing, an activity that developed from an urgent need to keep a personal daybook of his sins to a more deliberate attempt to write for others (chapter two). After this, the thesis considers how Wallington’s early response to death inspired his attempt to construct a ‘self’ through his understanding of the Christian doctrine of mortification (chapter three). Then it provides a fresh account of Wallington’s suicide attempts: how his attempt to construct a ‘self’ through mortification initially led him to despair and to the temptation to negate his ‘self’ and his life in the world (chapter four). Following this, the thesis goes beyond the account of despair to argue that Wallington overcame his temptation to commit suicide and resolved to engage with the world around him, by meditating on and studying death (chapter five). Finally, the thesis shows how the iii evidence presented in earlier chapters gives a fresh perspective on Wallington, and suggests how this might contribute to a better understanding of continuity and change in the piety of seventeenth century Reformed Christianity (chapter six). iv Contents Abstract iii Abbreviations vi 1. Introduction: death in the manuscripts of Nehemiah Wallington. 1 2. ‘Many a precious Jewel in the dust and dunghill of my works’: death, piety, and a humble ambition to write. 49 3. Nehemiah’s struggles with self-reform, 1609 – 1618. 97 4. The temptation of suicide, 1618 – 1623. 148 5. Death as teacher. 193 6. Conclusion: death in Wallington’s world. 232 Bibliography 246 v Abbreviations BL MS 1457 Nehemiah Wallington, ‘A Memorial of God’s Judgments upon Sabbath breakers, Drunkards and other vile livers’ (British Library, Sloane MS. 1457) BL MS 21935 Nehemiah Wallington, ‘A Bundle of Mercies’ (British Library, Additional MS. 21935) BL MS 40883 Nehemiah Wallington, ‘The Growth of a Christian’ (British Library, Additional MS. 40883) BL MS 922 Nehemiah Wallington, ‘Copies of Profitable and Comfortable Letters’ (British Library, Sloane MS. 922) FS MS V.a.436 Nehemiah Wallington, ‘An Extract of the Passages of My Life, or the Book of all My Writing Books’ (Folger Shakespeare Library, MS. V.a.436) GL MS 204 Nehemiah Wallington, ‘A Record of God’s Mercies, or A Thankful Remembrance’ (Guildhall Library, London, MS. 204) TP MS 68.20 Nehemiah Wallington, ‘A Record of Mercies Continued, or yet God is Good to Israel’ (Tatton Park Library, MS. 68.20) vi Chapter One Introduction: death in the manuscripts of Nehemiah Wallington Nehemiah Wallington was born in London on 12 May 1598, during the final years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, and died in the same year as Oliver Cromwell, in August 1658. He was the tenth of twelve children and the fourth son born to John Wallington (a turner and liveryman of the Turner’s Company) and Elizabeth Hall Wallington (daughter of Jane and Anthony Hall, a London skinner). As a character on the stage of seventeenth century English society, Nehemiah did not emerge as a significant figure. He did not attend Oxford or Cambridge, enter the clergy, or mingle with those at court. He did not impact his culture through art, or compose a great play to regale Jacobean audiences and demand the attention of literary enthusiasts for decades and even centuries after his death. In many respects, Nehemiah lived a common and inconsequential existence, following the vocational path of his father and never leaving the area of London where he was born. Yet, it is out of the life of this seemingly irrelevant and minor character from seventeenth century England that a vital resource has been passed down to students of early modern history. Part of what makes the life of Nehemiah Wallington so intriguing is the way he responded to events that brought change to his life. These alterations to what appears to have been an otherwise settled and secure existence started in early childhood. While Nehemiah’s family never migrated from the City of London and his father flourished in his profession as a wood-turner there, the death of several family members between the ages of five and eleven years of age set a course that would demand from him constant reflection and meditation. His mother Elizabeth died in 1 1603. Soon after, his father, John, married the widow, Joan Hinde. The marriage of John and Joan brought into Nehemiah’s childhood home a stepbrother, Philip Hinde. When Joan died only ten months after her marriage to John, Nehemiah’s father married for a third time to the widow, Alice Harrison. Alice brought into her marriage to John Wallington two children from a former marriage, a son, Richard, and a daughter, Anne. Alice also conceived a child with John, a half-sister to Nehemiah named Patience. In 1609, an illness took the life of Philip, Richard, and Anne. Beginning with the death of his stepsiblings, Nehemiah turned to religion and the practice of piety to cope with the changes that these deaths brought him.1 We know about Nehemiah Wallington and his attempt to manage change in his life from seven extant manuscripts that were once part of a fifty-manuscript collection. The composition of such a large body of writing was an incredible feat for an individual who earned his living as a craftsman. A list of these fifty manuscripts, which includes the start dates and titles that Nehemiah assigned to each one, is found in the last of his seven extant writings.2 Four of these seven extant manuscripts are now held in the British Library under the manuscript references: ‘A Memorial of God’s Judgments upon Sabbath Breakers, Drunkards and Other Vile Livers’ (Sloane Manuscript 1457); ‘A Bundle of Mercies’ (Additional Manuscript 21935); ‘The Growth of a Christian’ (Additional Manuscript 40883); and ‘Copies of Profitable and Comfortable Letters’ (Sloane Manuscript 922).