Government, religion and military affairs in Durham during the civil war and interregnum

Abstract

Despite chafing at the impositions of the King's years of personal rule, and suffering severely in the debacle of the Bishops' Wars which ended it, Durham was predominantly loyal to the Crown in 1642. The establishment of parliamentary ascendancy in 1644 brought new personalities - and new forms of government - into the county: gentlemen of good quality, often with Newcastle commercial connections and headed by the grandee Vanes. The pre-war body of radical dissent, centred in. the entrepreneurs of the lower Wear and Durham townsmen and drawing strength from Church tenantry, found itself still with an essentially subordinate role. Those who had committed themselves to the royal cause in general made their peace after the first war: the involvement of former notable cavaliers in the events of 1648 was much reduced. Yet few were reconciled to Commonwealth or Protectorate, or could be drawn into the county's affairs once more. A large majority remained aloof and passively hostile to the new regimes. It is a small nucleus of gentlemen who can be seen to serve the Revolution's cause in Durham' throughout all its stages, and Cromwell's governments are served by men of lesser status - exemplified by the Lilburne family. In religion, the county's parishes revealed that amorphous and uncertain state of affairs so familiar elsewhere – a coming and going of ministers of various opinions, of quiet accommodation, of opportunism, of good men ill-used. There emerged also a need for meaningful parochial reforms. While classical Presbyterian forms were unable to establish themselves, the 1650s saw sectarian beliefs flourish to enduring effect. For Durham the Restoration was almost literally just that, with the rapid re-emergence of old personalities and forms - secular and religious - in the county's affairs, and the easy eradication of twenty years of revolution, with the exception of non-conformist dissent.