In a sermon on the eve of Civil War, Exeter Puritan minister John Bond hailed Exeter as ‘a Beacon upon a hill, yea, as the Centre, heart and head of the West’. As an influential regional capital, Exeter was a centre for religious as well as political developments, and played a pivotal role in successive national conflicts, including the Prayerbook Rebellion/Western Rising of 1549, the Civil Wars, the Glorious Revolution, and the ‘Exeter Arian Controversy’ in eighteenth-century Dissent. Through these crises, Exeter’s preachers, poets, and printers expounded, defended, and contested competing visions of faith and fellowship.
The ReConEx project (‘Writing Religious Conflict and Community in Exeter, 1500–1750’) draws on a wealth of literary evidence (including poems, sermons, prophecies, pamphlets, letters, travel writing, captivity narratives, diaries, memoirs, and spiritual autobiographies) to trace how Exeter’s religious identity was written into being and fought over in the generations following the Protestant Reformation. In this event, we will introduce our project findings so far and will explore how the city of Exeter functioned as a sacred space and a site of confessional conflict facilitating encounters between individuals and the divine as well as between a diverse range of competing and co-existing religious communities.
Philip Schwyzer, Niall Allsopp and David Parry are members of the Department of English and Creative Writing at the University of Exeter. Philip Schwyzer is Professor of Renaissance Literature, with research interests including personal and collective memory, antiquarianism and national identities. Niall Allsopp is Lecturer in Early Modern Literature, with research interests including the literature of the English Civil War, political ideas, and religious and civic ceremonies. David Parry has served in teaching and research roles at Exeter since 2017, with research interests including Puritan writers such as John Milton and John Bunyan and the intersections of rhetoric, religion and intellectual history.
Cost: £25
Doors 6pm / Talk 6.30pm / Supper 7.30pm
Accessibility Statement: The Institution is committed to improving its accessibility, and we welcome all visitors to our public events. However, we are transparent about the access limitations that the size, location, and historic nature of the building can occasion, and readily acknowledge that we are in a period of transition.
The main entrance to the DEI, (facing the Cathedral), has double doors, and is accessible for most wheelchairs. From this entrance there is level access to the foyer, and to the inner and outer libraries. We apologise for the current lack of lift access to the South Range rooms on the second floor.
As we are a small building, parking is limited, but a space can be pre-booked by contacting the office by phone: 01392 274727, or by email: office@devonandexeterinstitution.org. Priority will be given to blue badge holders. The side door into the inner library should be accessible for most wheelchair users reaching the DEI from the driveway, or the front entrance can be reached through the side door at the end of the driveway. Please do contact us if you have any further questions about your route into the DEI.
There are toilets on site, though the nearest fully accessible Changing Places toilet can be found in the Princesshay Shopping Centre, at the back of Nationwide.
The library is usually a quiet space, though can be louder during events. A timetable for events can be found on the website. If you require a quieter space, please ask a member of staff.
If sounded, the fire alarm makes a repeated sound of two tones, and flashing lights will go off in the reading room and the toilets. On an ordinary day, ringing phones and door buzzers might also be heard.
Lighting is soft throughout the building, and may be low in certain areas. Assistance dogs are welcome, and staff will be happy to provide water for your dog.