‘The Irresistable Authority of a Troop of Horse’: The New Model Army and Parish Life

Historians have argued over how much influence the army had on local government during the 1640s and 1650s. Discussion of the military impact on parish religion has, however, been more limited, despite many remembered accounts, from both loyalists and nonconformists, of its negative consequences. Such memories are examined here, along with contemporary legal records relating to the involvement of military Justices of the Peace and ordinary soldiers in dealing with religious matters. A conclusion is reached that while the army later became a scapegoat for all that was deemed wrong with the 1640s and 1650s, its religious agency was more limited than later accounts suggested. It was not, however, insignificant, as the military exercised influence through selective representation and subtle networks of power, intervening decisively at particular times over issues of religion that particularly concerned them.