Quakers

===Beginnings in England===
{{see also|Britain Yearly Meeting#History}}
[[File:Fox by Lely 2.jpg|thumb|upright|George Fox, a leading early Quaker]]
During and after the [[English Civil War]] (1642–1651) many [[English Dissenters|dissenting Christian groups]] emerged, including the [[Seekers]] and others. A young man, [[George Fox]], was dissatisfied with the teachings of the [[Church of England]] and [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformists]]. He claimed to have received a revelation that "there is one, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to thy condition",<ref name=GeorgeFoxsJournal/> and became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Christ without the aid of ordained clergy. In 1652 he had a [[vision (spirituality)|vision]] on [[Pendle Hill]] in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that "the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered".<ref name=GeorgeFoxsJournal/> Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands,<ref name="Netherlands">{{Cite journal |last=Nuttall |first=Geoffrey |title=Early Quakerism in the Netherlands: Its wider context |journal=The Bulletin of the Friends Historical Association |year=1955 |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=3–18 |doi=10.1353/qkh.1955.a395167 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/quaker_history/v044/44.1.nuttall.pdf |jstor=41944566 |s2cid=161640592 |access-date=21 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016102656/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=%2Fjournals%2Fquaker_history%2Fv044%2F44.1.nuttall.pdf |archive-date=16 October 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and [[Barbados]]<ref name=Barbados>{{Cite book |last=Gragg |first=Larry |title=The Quaker community on Barbados: challenging the culture of the planter class |year=2009 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |location=Columbia |isbn=9780826218476 |url=https://archive.org/details/quakercommunityo00grag_0 |url-access=registration |edition=[Online-Ausg.]}}</ref> preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith. The central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself.<ref name=GeorgeFoxsJournal/> Fox considered himself to be restoring a true, "pure" Christian church.<ref name="BBC Overview"/>

In 1650, Fox was brought before the [[Magistrates of England and Wales|magistrates]] [[Gervase Bennet]] and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious [[blasphemy]]. According to Fox's autobiography, Bennet "was the first that called us Quakers, because I bade them tremble at the word of the Lord".<ref name=GeorgeFoxsJournal/>{{rp|125}} It is thought that Fox was referring to {{Bibleverse |Isaiah |66:2 |AKJV}} or {{Bibleverse |Ezra |9:4 |AKJV}}. Thus the name ''Quaker'' began as a way of ridiculing Fox's admonition, but became widely accepted and used by some Quakers.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Margery Post Abbott |title=Historical dictionary of the Friends (Quakers) |year=2003 |page=xxxi|display-authors=etal}}</ref> Quakers also described themselves using terms such as true Christianity, Saints, Children of the Light, and Friends of the Truth, reflecting terms used in the New Testament by members of the early Christian church.

[[File:JamesNayler-2.jpg|thumb|left|[[James Nayler]], a prominent Quaker leader, being pilloried and whipped]]
Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, not least among women. An address "To the Reader" by [[Mary Forster (Quaker)|Mary Forster]] accompanied a Petition to the [[Parliament of England]] presented on 20 May 1659, expressing the opposition of over 7000 women to "the oppression of Tithes".<ref name="Feminist">Virginia Blain, Patricia Clements and Isobel Grundy, eds, ''The Feminist Companion to Literature in English. Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present'' (London: Batsford, 1990), p. 388.</ref> The overall number of Quakers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680<ref name=PopulationHistory>{{Cite book |title=The population history of England, 1541–1871: a reconstruction |last1=Wrigley |first1=Edward Anthony |last2=Schofield |first2=Roger |last3=Schofield |first3=R. S. |year=1989 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK |isbn=0-521-35688-1 |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pV9SZS4WpjkC}}</ref> (1.15% of the population of England and Wales).<ref name=PopulationHistory/> But the dominant discourse of Protestantism viewed the Quakers as a blasphemous challenge to social and political order,<ref name="Levy 6">{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Barry |title=Quakers and the American Family |pages=6}}</ref> leading to official persecution in England and Wales under the [[Quaker Act 1662]] and the [[Conventicle Act 1664]]. This persecution of Dissenters was relaxed after the [[Declaration of Indulgence (1687)|Declaration of Indulgence]] (1687–1688) and stopped under the [[Act of Toleration 1689]].

One modern view of Quakerism at this time was that the direct relationship with Christ was encouraged through spiritualisation of human relations, and "the redefinition of the Quakers as a holy tribe, 'the family and household of God{{Single double}}.<ref name="Levy 13">{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Barry |title=Quakers and the American Family |pages=13}}</ref> Together with [[Margaret Fell]], the wife of [[Thomas Fell]], who was the vice-chancellor of the [[Duchy of Lancaster]] and an eminent judge, Fox developed new conceptions of family and community that emphasised "holy conversation": speech and behaviour that reflected piety, faith, and love.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Barry |title=Quakers and the American Family |pages=53, 130}}</ref> With the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women; Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing "holy conversation" in her children and husband.<ref name="Levy 13"/> Quaker women were also responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in "meetings" that regulated marriage and domestic behaviour.<ref name="Levy 78">{{Cite book |last=Levy |first=Barry |title=Quakers and the American Family |pages=78}}</ref>