This new publication of one of our members takes up Thomas Fuller’s 1662 characterisation of Lancashire as divided between Protestants and Catholics, showing how religious and political division undermined the county’s status-conscious society, obsessed with religion, a tension manifested in outbreaks of witchcraft and demon-possession, and culminating in civil war. It considers how the abolition of monarchy and Episcopalian Protestantism resulted in the proliferation of radical Protestant sects, followed by the restoration of king and bishops, and then another revolution
which led to the eventual rejection of communal religious violence.
Dr Anthony Hilton is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and Editor Emeritus of North West Catholic History. His publications include Catholic Lancashire: From Reformation to Renewal, 1559-1991.
The book is obtainable from J. A, Hilton, 282 Whelley, Wigan, Lancashire, WN2 1DA, for £18 inc. p. & p.