Title: James Nayler, 1618-1660
Description: "The Puritian victory in the English Civil War occasioned a relgious as well as a political revolution. Freed from the restraints of the Anglican faith, the country erupted into a multitude of new sects and religious persuasions threatening religious anarchy ... From the muddle of beliefs, many individuals came to prominence. Some were branded lunatics, self-appointed messiahs ... Others were thoughtful men, dedicated to the search for religious truth and destined to establish lasting movements, as the founders of Quakerism, one of the few sects of the period which survived ... The Quakers, or the Society of Friends, grew out of the turmoil of the interregnum beginning with the ministry of George Fox, cobber turned itinerant preacher, in 1647 ... James Nayler was an early adherent of the Quaker movement in which he soon gained a prominence second only to the acknowledged founder, George Fox. His preaching and publishing activities were of paramount importance to the early growth of the movement, and events in his later career, particularly those culminating in his trial by the Second Protectorate Parliament, are among the most widely celebrated, and most often misinterpreted, in early Quaker history. His significance reaches both the religious and constitutional history of the period"--P. 1-2.
Subjects: Biography, Quakers, Trials (Blasphemy), Trials, litigation
Places: England, Lancaster
People: James Naylor (1617?-1660)