Baptism and Spiritual Kinship in Early Modern England
Baptism and Spiritual Kinship in Early Modern England

Author: Will Coster

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-03-02

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1351955993

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Despite the importance of the subject to contemporaries, this is the first monograph to look at the institution of godparenthood in early modern English society. Utilising a wealth of hitherto largely neglected primary source data, this work explores godparenthood, using it as a framework to illuminate wider issues of spiritual kinship and theological change. It has become increasingly common for general studies of family and religious life in pre-industrial England to make reference to the spiritual kinship evident in the institution of godparenthood. However, although there have been a number of important studies of the impact of the institution in other periods, this is the first detailed monograph devoted to the subject in early modern England. This study is possible due to the survival, contrary to many expectations, of relatively large numbers of parish registers that recorded the identities of godparents in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By utilising this hitherto largely neglected data, in conjunction with evidence gleaned from over 20,000 Wills and numerous other biographical, legal and theological sources, Coster has been able to explore fully the institution of godparenthood and the role it played in society. This book takes the opportunity to study an institution which interacted with a range of social and cultural factors, and to assess the nature of these elements within early modern English society. It also allows the findings of such an investigation to be compared with the assumptions that have been made about the fortunes of the institution in the context of a changing European society. The recent historiography of religion in this period has focused attention on popular elements of religious practice, and stressed the conservatism of a society faced with dramatic theological and ritual change. In this context a study of godparenthood can make a contribution to understanding how religious change occurred and the ways in which popular religious practice was affected.

Cudham Church – A History of the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Cudham
Cudham Church – A History of the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Cudham

Author: Diane Kemp

Publisher: Paragon Publishing

Published: 2018-11-23

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 1782225951

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The exact date when a church came into existence at Cudham is not known, but there is a record of a payment of 7d for oil in the year AD 953, indicating that Cudham had a priest and a font, and in a Saxon script reference is made to a church in AD 982. St Peter and St Paul, Cudham, is designated Grade II* in the listing of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, described as an “Excellent multi-phase medieval church, which underwent considerable restoration in the 1890’s.” The author draws on papers that have come to light over her 20 year tenancy of the ancient post of Churchwarden to write this first comprehensive history and guide to the church. Where it helps to explain something, or put it into context, she has included additional reference information. The papers hint at events in Cudham church’s long history, though they can barely scratch the surface of all that has happened to and in it since the local Christians built the original one. This book goes some way to bring this history to life.