Article contents
‘ACCORDING TO ANCIENT CUSTOM’: THE RETURN OF ALTARS IN THE RESTORATION CHURCH OF ENGLAND1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2003
Abstract
Despite its association with the ill-fated reforms of Archbishop Laud in the 1630s and its dubious legality, the railed altar re-appeared in parish churches in the years after 1660. Initially only a handful of parishes and a minority of bishops backed so controversial a change, but the reconstruction of the city churches in London after the fire of 1666 popularised the railed altar, which was adopted elsewhere, particularly during the tory reaction of the 1680s. Studies of two urban parishes in the early 1680s indicate how struggles between dissenters and zealous anglicans could extend to disputes over worship. By 1700, what had been new and contested in the 1630s was becoming widely accepted, which may point to the powerful legacy of Laudian ideals in the restoration church.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Royal Historical Society2003
References
1 I am very grateful to Andrew Foster, Peter Lake, Stephen Taylor and Nicholas Tyacke for their comments on an earlier version of this essay.
- 2
- Cited by