God’s Islands

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines the religious culture and ecclesiastical arrangements of various island communities, showing how devotional activities and godly discipline were affected by politics and custom. The Isle of Wight was part of the Diocese of Winchester, with patterns of conformity and dissent similar to those of the mainland. Lundy was extra-parochial, and forgotten by the bishops of Exeter. The Scillies, too, belonged to the diocese of Exeter, but episcopal influence was almost invisible. The Isle of Man had its own bishop, but godly conformity was rarely attained. Religious radicals reached most islands in the decades of revolution, and lingered or revived in the later seventeenth century. The Channel Islands, as ever, were anomalous, having adopted a Presbyterian discipline under Elizabeth I. Jersey was brought into conformity with England’s prayer book and canons, at least officially, in the reign of James I, but Presbyterianism continued in Guernsey until the Restoration. Each island experienced conflicts in the later seventeenth century over worship, discipline, conformity, and dissent. The disputes of laity and clergy, deans and bailiffs, and governors and the godly formed an offshore drama against the continuing development of the national Church of England.