Restoration, orthodoxy and dissent
The ongoing conflict over the religious settlement in England, Scotland, and Ireland culminated in the Civil Wars of the 1640s, during which Oxford was the headquarters of the King. In 1646, the bishops were abolished, and, after Charles I’s defeat and execution in 1649, Church and State no longer enforced the use of the Elizabethan prayer book nor were people required to attend their parish Church by law. But the subsequent proliferation of religious and political ideas seemed frightening to many, and with the return of the monarchy in 1660 bishops were restored and a new Prayer Book authorized. Many Protestants simply could not accept either, and these ‘Dissenters’ were expelled from the Church of England, along with the previously excluded Catholics.
These events had a significant effect on Oxford. The University was closed to those who would not conform to this new orthodoxy – and would remain so until the nineteenth century. From the building of the Sheldonian Theatre to the memorials erected in churches and colleges throughout the City, those who supported a more exclusively Anglican Oxford celebrated their triumph. Yet there are, if you know where to look for them, also signs of dissenting ideas and challenges to this settlement. The Sheldonian Theatre was built as a monument to this particularly exclusionary moment in the history of the University and the Church, one largely engineered by Archbishop Sheldon. In the years that followed, many would seek to reform this settlement. But it would not be until the nineteenth century that the University reopened its doors to those outside the Church of England.