Wallington's World: A Puritan Artisan in Seventeenth-Century
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Seaver, Paul / Seaver, Paul S., PUBLISHER: Stanford University Press, Seventeenth-century Englong>andong> has been richly documented by th lives ong>ofong> kings ong>andong> ong>theong>ir great ministers, ong>theong> nobility ong>andong> gentry, ong>andong> bishops ong>andong> preachers, but we have very little firsthong>andong> information on ordinary citizens. This unique portrait ong>ofong> ong>theong> life, thought, ong>andong> attitudes ong>ofong> a London Puritan turner (laong>theong> worker) is based on ong>theong> extraordinary personal papers ong>ofong> Nehemiah Wallington-- surviving pages ong>ofong> memoirs, religious reflections, political reportage, ong>andong> letters. Coming to maturity during ong>theong> reign ong>ofong> James I, Wallington witnessed ong>theong> persecution ong>ofong> Puritans during Archbishop Laud's ascendancy under Charles I, welcomed what he thought would be ong>theong> godly revolution brought by ong>theong> Long Parliament, ong>andong> watched with increasing disillusionment ong>theong> falure ong>ofong> that dream under ong>theong> Rump republic ong>andong> ong>theong> Cromwellian Protectorate. ong>Theong> author reconstructs Wallington's inner world, allowing us to see what an ordinary man made ong>ofong> a lifetime ong>ofong> reading Puritan ong>doctrineong> ong>andong> listening to ong>theong> sermons ong>ofong> Puritan preachers. For ong>theong> first time we can penetrate ong>theong> mind ong>ofong> one ong>ofong> those who made up ong>theong> London mob calling for ong>theong> end ong>ofong> episcopacy ong>andong> ong>theong> death ong>ofong> ong>theong> Earl ong>ofong> Strafford in , who welcomed ong>theong> revolution, if not ong>theong> war that followed, ong>andong> who finally came to approve ong>theong> death ong>ofong> his king.