CREMS Christmas party and talk with Alison Knight

Certified Religion: The London Dutch Church and Early Modern Belief on Paper

In November 1582, the Mayor of Norwich refused to admit any foreigner to the city without 'a legal certificate affirming their sound religion and good conduct'. Similarly, in 1599 the privy council ordered that any stranger must leave England unless they could produce a certificate of their membership and good standing in a stranger congregation. How might religious belief be a matter for certificate? The early modern period is often considered pre-bureaucratic, but attempts to regulate, monitor, and control via paperwork abounded -- at times in areas we might now consider beyond licensing or certification. The early modern stranger churches contended with particularly intense pressures of religious paperwork, as they navigated (often haphazard) state requirements for regulating immigrant communities. As this talk will show, attempts to ‘certify’ religious belief amongst early modern migrant (and indeed native) populations reveal how greatly written proof of religion accompanied.

Christmas party

We hope to see our MA students, PhD researchers and staff at our Christmas party, we will provide wine and snacks!