The "Book of Sports" and the politics of sabbatarianism in Tudor and Stuart England

Dougall, Alistair (2007) The "Book of Sports" and the politics of sabbatarianism in Tudor and Stuart England. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This thesis asks in particular whether the view that Sunday should be completely set aside for worship and prayer was a mainstream principle of the English Church or whether it was, instead, the hallmark of radical protestants who sought to impose their beliefs on society as a whole and, contrary to the Church’s traditional position, sought to suppress all recreations held after church on Sundays. It examines the role of traditional festivity in early modern England, the motivations of the people who attempted to suppress such festivity, the polarising nature of their actions and the fatal consequences for the cohesion of early Stuart society.

It challenges two key arguments put forward by K.L. Parker: that the puritan view of Sunday observance was not an innovation, and that it was Archbishop Laud and his supporters who changed the teaching of the English Church by adopting anti-sabbatarian policies. The thesis argues that puritan sabbatarianism did indeed diverge from the traditional teaching of the Church and represented a serious challenge to the authority of both the Church and the crown. The thesis conducts a detailed re-examination of the events surrounding the republication of the Book of Sports in 1633 and reassesses the role of Charles I. It challenges the views of numerous historians who have argued, or simply assumed, that the policy of reissuing and then enforcing the Book of Sports was that of Archbishop Laud. Instead, this thesis argues that it was very much the king’s own work. The thesis also assesses the impact of the Book of Sports and argues that it contributed to the deep divisions within Caroline society. It argues, indeed, that the book’s reissue was a factor in the country’s descent into civil war.