Act of Toleration

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

Resources

One of the fruits of the Glorious Revolution which brought William III to the throne, this act palliated the Conventicles Act of 1664 by allowing dissenters to meet in unlocked meeting houses which had been licensed by a bishop, provided the minister subscribed to the Thirty Nine articles (excepting those on church government and baptism). It constituted a compromise between James II's Declaration of Indulgence (1687, 1688) which had sought to grant toleration to all religions – Catholic and Protestant non-conformists of all hues – and the Williamite desire to maintain state control of religion via the Church of England, and to ensure the security of England as a protestant bastion against French catholicism. Catholic and Unitarian meetings were not to benefit from this toleration.…

239 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Act of Toleration". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 September 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1461, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1461 Act of Toleration 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.