Nehemiah Wallington (1598-1658): A Conventional Martyr? Suffering and Sinfulness in Wallington's Seventeenth-century Notebooks

Abstract

The notebooks written by the London woodturner Nehemiah Wallington (1598-1658) are a fascinating source for examining the enduring impact of the theme of martyrdom long after the persecutions of Protestants during the reign of Mary I (1553-1558). In a period in which even non-conformist Protestants were relatively safe, Wallington insists upon suffering, and quotes from John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (first published in 1563) in a way that suggests that the physical of Protestants is still his daily reality. The afterlife of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs is still understudied, and Wallington’s notebooks offer a wealth of information on how people engaged with Foxe’s legacy. In this thesis, I discuss how Wallington gives meaning to his suffering by constructing an imagined community of Protestants, which Wallington bases on Foxe’s community of martyrs. Rather than death through martyrdom, Wallington sees suffering more generally as crucial to this community, and includes all Protestants. In addition to his imagined community, Wallington also creates his own narrative of suffering based on two major characteristics of suffering transmitted by Foxe: joyful suffering, and suffering as a trial of faith or an instructive message from God. Wallington struggles to apply these frameworks to his own suffering, because his suffering is spiritual, rather than physical, and characterized by an overwhelming awareness of his sinfulness. My analysis of Wallington’s notebooks demonstrates that Foxe’s templates do not always suffice in the case of feelings of spiritual inadequacy and the overwhelming sense of sinfulness that haunt Wallington. Wallington’s writings demonstrate the shortcomings of his Foxean approach in the changed circumstances of his own time. As a consequence, Wallington experiences deep spiritual crises. My research findings demonstrate that Wallington still manages to relate his highly individual struggle with his sinfulness to his imagined community. Wallington does so by seeing not only suffering, but also sinfulness as a crucial characteristic of both him and his imagined community, and by approaching suffering as a purging mechanism that demonstrates his membership of God’s special community.