The evolution of Puritan mentality in an Essex cloth town : Dedham and the Stour Valley, 1560-1640.

The subject of this thesis is the impact of religious
reformation on the inhabitants of a small urban centre,
with some reference to the experience of nearby settlements. Dedham has a place in national history as a centre
of the Elizabethan Puritan Movement but the records of the
Dedham Conference (the local manifestation of that
movement), also illustrate the development of Reformed
religion in Dedham and associated parishes.
The contents of the thesis may be divided into four
sections. The first of these concerns the material life of
the inhabitants of Dedham and the way in which this
generated both the potential for social cohesion and the
possibility of social conflict. The second section
examines the attempt at parish reformation sponsored by the
ministers associated with the Dedham Conference and the
militant and exclusive doctrine of the Christian life
elaborated by the succeeding generation of preachers.
The third element of the thesis focuses on the way in
which the inhabitants articulated the expression of a
Reformed or Puritan piety and, on occasion, the rejection
of features of that piety. The ways in which the townspeople promoted the education of their children, the
relief of the poor and the acknowledgement of ties of
kinship and friendship, have been examined in terms of
their relationship to a collective mentality characterized
by a strong commitment to 'godly' religion.
The fourth and final section seeks to examine how a
group, characterized by the particular mindset discussed
earlier, responded to the political crisis and increasing
polarization of opinion which culminated in the outbreak of
the English Civil War.
The Conclusion attempts to integrate the topics
examined in these sections and to show how, despite the
rigour and exclusiveness which characterized the rhetoric
of the preachers, Puritanism in Dedham tended to foster
social cohesion rather than social division.