ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



cathedral to the prisoners. They were not discharged until the middle of 

 1652."^ Next year, which saw the discredit of Presbyterianistn in England, 

 marked the earliest known traces of Quakerism in the county, when some 

 trouble was taken at Gateshead"' to put a stop to the increase of Quakers 

 in Durham. It is possible that they had been more stringently treated under 

 the Presbyterian regime. Increasing severity, however, was shown by the 

 Independents in other directions. In 1654 a proclamation was enjoined by 

 the Council to forbid horse-racing and other meetings in the north, since 

 these gatherings were made the occasion of spreading Royalist sympathy.*** 



Under the Protectorate proper, trustees were reappointed to take the 

 place of the now discharged committees of the Long Parliament which had 

 dealt with church lands until 1653. They carried on the work of their 

 predecessors and directed another survey of parishes to be carried out."^ It 

 is not quite clear how far this dealt with the same places as were returned in 

 1650. Some of its returns for the county survive at Lambeth and correspond 

 exactly in character with the earlier work of the Committee for Propagating 

 the Gospel, which they confirmed and carried on.*** A printed protest of 

 October, 1654, against the confirmation of the sale of the bishops' lands 

 seems to indicate that the new owners were turning the old tenants out of 

 doors, their wives and children going a-begging. The old Committee for 

 Scandalous Ministers was revived as a ' commission for ejecting scandalous 

 ministers.' *" The same principle of organizing the administration was 

 carried out in other directions. Assizes were restored and took the place of 

 martial law.**' The county and the chief boroughs were at last represented 

 in Parliament. Itinerating preachers were appointed,**' yet there was a 

 restless undercurrent. Royalist feeling reasserted itself, and a considerable 

 rebellion broke out in 1655.**° Lambert was appointed major-general of the 

 district, and Robert Lilburne his deputy for Durham. Next year Hyde 

 sent to feel the pulse of the Royalists and to ascertain their names.*" After 

 the death of Oliver Cromwell Royalist sympathy was further stirred, and 

 when, in January, i 660, Monk began his march, active measures were taken 

 by men of influence. *^^ In February a riot took place in Durham and the 

 people called for king and a free parliament.*^' It would be difficult to 

 disprove the assertion that the citizens of Durham were only voicing the 

 desires of the bishopric at large. 



*" Order for release given I Mar. S.P. Dom. Interregnum, vol. 23, No. 105 ; countermanded 17 Mar. 

 ibid. No. no ; finally given I July, ibid. vol. 24, No. 60. 



*" Jni. Ael. vi, 229 ; viii, 222. 



"' Council to Capt. Howard, Cal. S.P. Dom. 1654, P- 245. 



♦" Hist, in W. A. Shave, Hisf. Ch. Engl, ii, 221, 230. "« Lambeth MSS. 1000, fol. 8, &c. 



**' Ibid, passim, where directions are given by the trustees to these commissioners. 



*" Hutchinson, op. cit. i, 629, for the years 165 I and 1652. In the former year all cases were to be 

 heard depending in the Dur. Ct. of Pleas in 1642 or instituted since. In 1654, 31 Mar. and 9 June, 

 petitions were made to the Protector to hold assizes, S.P. Dom. Interregnum, vol. 68, No. 81, and vol. 72, 

 No. 14. 



**' Durham College was to maintain two of these preachers by a grant from Sedgcfield Rectory. 



"" Instruction of Protector to suppress the present rebellion, conspiracies, &c. 14 Mar. 1655. S.P. Dom. 

 Interregnum, vol. 95, No. 28 ; 5 Apr. commissions for trial, ibid. vol. 96, No. 10. 



*'' Sir E. Hyde to Sir M. Langdale, I Sept. 1656, from Antwerp, ' Please send me the names of five or 

 six persons of the Bishopric ... on whose interest and discretion we may depend.' Norf. House MSS. (Hist. 

 MSS. Com. Rep. for 1903), 353. 



"' Thos. Lilburne was speci.illy prominent, as he reports to Haselrig, Cal. S.P. Dom. 1659-60, p. 294. 



•" Described in Liitkcote MSS. (Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. 1899), 159. 



53 



