Clarendon code

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Clarendon code. The title given, inaccurately, to the statutes passed after the Restoration re-establishing the Church of England under government by bishops and compelling the nation to conform. They embodied the principles, interests, and vindictiveness of the cavalier majority in Parliament rather than the judgement of Lord Clarendon, Charles II's chief minister. The Uniformity Act (1662) required clergy to have episcopal ordination and use only the Book of Common Prayer. Some 1,000 were ejected for refusing. The Conventicle Act (1664) penalized all religious meetings outside the church. The Five Mile Act (1665) banned dissenting ministers from corporate towns. In 1672 Charles tried to suspend these statutes by issuing a Declaration of Indulgence.

J. R. Jones

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Clarendon Code

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