Clarendon Code

A set of laws against Puritans named after the Chancellor Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.

The Clarendon Code comprises four statutes, the Corporation Act (1661), the Act of Uniformity (1662), the Conventicle Act (1664), and the Five Mile Act (1665). These were passed after the Restoration of Charles II and re-establish the Church of England as the only religious denomination. Although named after the Earl of Clarendon, the Code is said to represent the principles, interests, and vindictiveness of the Anglican majority in Parliament rather than the judgement of the Earl himself. The passing of the Clarendon Code constituted a huge disappointment for all those (e.g. the Presbyterians) who had helped to restore the king to the throne and who had hoped that, in return, in any religious settlement concessions would be made to their point of view.

In 1972, Charles II tried to suspend these statutes by issuing a Declaration of Indulgence.

Corporation Act (1661)

The Corporation Act of December 1661 excluded all those who refused to renounce the Covenant (i.e. who refused to take the Oath of Supremacy and Allegiance), to take the sacraments according to the rites of the Church of England, or to swear not to resist the king from holding public office in municipal bodies.

Act of Uniformity (1662)

The Act of Uniformity of May 1662 required all clergymen to have episcopal ordination and use only the Book of Common Prayer. By enforcing the use of the Book of Common Prayer, a revised version was promulgated in April, the Act provided liturgical conformity. Some 1,000 priests, who did not assent the new liturgy, were forced to give up their living for refusing.

Conventicle Act (1664)

The Conventicle Act prohibited and penalized all religious meetings outside church and those services not conducted according to the Book of Common Prayer, because it was thought that dissenters’ meeting places were likely centres for plotting against the restored king.

Five Mile Act (1665)

The Five Mile Act banned dissenting ministers from corporate towns. Nonconformist preachers were banned from living in or even visiting any place where they had formerly officiated.

Sources:

Ashley, Maurice. England in the seventeenth century. Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, 1970.

Cannon, John Ashton (ed.). The Oxford companion to British history. Oxford: University Press, 1997.