This book considers how Early Modern England was transformed from a turbulent and rebellious
kingdom into a peaceable land. By considering the history of Taunton Somerset the most
rebellious town in the kingdom it is possible to see how the emerging features of the
Enlightenment - moderation reason and rational theology - effected that transformation. The
experience of Taunton in the seventeenth century was marked by economic fluctuations of the
cloth trade and military struggles in the Civil War the Monmouth Rebellion and the Glorious
Revolution. The primary motivation for the citizens was zealous Puritanism. It inspired support
for Parliament and rebellion against James II. But in the final quarter of the century a new
rational and moderate Protestantism emerged from the largest Nonconformist congregation in the
country and from a distinguished dissenting academy. The study shows that both the militancy of
the seventeenth century and the enlightened moderation of the eighteenth century were
principally inspired by religious rather than secular values. This book contributes to our
understanding of England's transformation and of the religious factors that stimulated it.
