Clarendon Code

A set of laws against Puritans named after the Chancellor Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.

The Clarendon Code comprises four statutes, the Corporation Act (1661), the Act of Uniformity (1662), the Conventicle Act (1664), and the Five Mile Act (1665). These were passed after the Restoration of Charles II and re-established the Church of England as state religion. Although named after the Earl of Clarendon, the Code is said to represent the principles, interests, and vindictiveness of the Anglican majority in Parliament rather than the judgement of the Earl himself. The Anglican gentry strongly believed that the Code would protect them from a Puritan dictatorship they had experienced during the Commonwealth period. The passing of the Clarendon Code naturally constituted a huge disappointment for all those (e.g. the Presbyterians) who had helped to restore the king to the throne and who had hoped that, in return, in any religious settlement concessions would be made to their point of view.

In 1972, Charles II, one of the opponents of the Code, tried to suspend the statutes by issuing a Declaration of Indulgence.

Corporation Act (1661)

The Corporation Act of December 1661 excluded all those from holding public office in municipal bodies who refused to renounce the Solemn league and Covenant (which held true for most Presbyterians), to take the sacraments according to the rites of the Church of England (which applied to all Catholics and some nonconformists), or to swear not to resist the king (which applied to the republican groups). This piece of legislation weighted the scales in borough elections heavily in favour of the royalists, and was not repealed until 1828.

Act of Uniformity (1662)

The Act of Uniformity of May 1662 required all clergymen to have episcopal ordination and to give a declaration of consent and assent to the Book of Common Prayer (a revised version was promulgated in April). Furthermore, school and university teachers were required to conform to the liturgy contained in it. Some 2,000 mostly Presbyterian priests, who did not assent the new liturgy, were forced to give up their living.

Conventicle Act (1664)

The Conventicle Act prohibited and penalized all religious meetings outside church with more than five persons present and those services not conducted according to the Book of Common Prayer. The Act aimed mostly at the clergymen ejected by the Act of Uniformity, because it was thought that their meeting places were likely centres for plotting against the restored king. The Act was at first strongly imposed, and entailed a great deal of fines, imprisonments and transportations, but was later ignored. It expired in 1668, was replaced by a laxer act in 1670, and finally replaced by the Toleration Act (1689).

Five Mile Act (1665)

The Five Mile Act banned dissenting ministers from corporate towns. Nonconformist clergymen and schoolmasters were banned from living within 5 miles or even visiting any place (city or parliamentary borough) where they had formerly officiated. Excepted were those clergymen who took an oath of non-resistance and declared not to try to alter the government in church or state. Due to this loose framework, the statute was almost impossible to implement and only few prosecutions took place. However, the Act deprived the dissenting congregations of their ministers and made it hard for dissenters to get acceptable religious ministrations, because those were mostly in town. This is why the area near modern Birmingham, which happened to be more than 5 miles from any of the places covered by the Act, became the focus of midland nonconformity.

Sources:

Arnold-Baker, Charles. The companion to British history. Longcross, 1996

Ashley, Maurice. England in the seventeenth century. Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, 1970.

Cannon, John Ashton (ed.). The Oxford companion to British history. Oxford: University Press, 1997.