Roger Morrice Project

The Roger Morrice Entring Book Project

Introducing the Morrice Project

The Morrice Project was created to publish Roger Morrice's Entring Book, the most important hitherto unpublished record of British political and religious history of the second half of the seventeenth century. The fragile, three volume, 1500 page manuscript of Roger Morrice's Entring Book is in Dr Williams's Library, 14 Gordon Square, London, the pre-eminent research library of English Protestant Dissent. The Entring Book is 900,000 words long and covers the years 1677 to 1691

The Entring Book and its author

The Entring Book is a key resource for British history during the later seventeenth century. Its author, Roger Morrice (1628-1702), was a puritan minister turned political journalist and agent for senior Whig politicians. He was astonishingly well connected and well informed, a discreet go-between, a conduit of public business, and a barometer of public opinion.

Morrice was passionately committed to the defeat of absolutism in government and intolerance in the church. The Entring Book is not a personal diary but a chronicle of public affairs. It sets out to record the odyssey of a godly people - and of a class of parliamentary magnates - in the face of 'popery and arbitrary power'. Through it we can trace the transformation of puritanism into Whiggery and Dissent.

Morrice's index to the Entring Book

The Scope of the Entring Book

The Entring Book is a rich source for much else besides. It touches upon many aspects of Restoration society: its social structure, urban growth, institutions and personalities, theatre, the royal court, the judges' courts, military and colonial affairs, foreign relations, London commerce, parish, ward and livery company politics, worship, piety and blasphemy, the culture of anti-popery, the governance of Scotland and Ireland, and the flow of news across Continental Europe.

It is informative about printing, bookselling, and the promotion and control of the press. It provides an intricate account of the fabric of metropolitan life, its topography and social geography. It offers closely observed accounts of spectacle, ceremonial, drama, music, celebration, riot and demonstration. There are comments on plays, fireworks, masquerades, fires, the weather, duels, executions, and suicides.

Publication

In 2007 the Entring Book was published in six volumes, including a companion volume and a biographical dictionary. A seventh, Index volume appeared in 2009. See www.boydell.co.uk.

Vol. 1	Roger Morrice and the Puritan Whigs Dr Mark Goldie, University of Cambridge Contact: mag1010@cam.ac.uk
Vol. 2	The Reign of Charles II, 1677-1685 Professor John Spurr, University of Wales, Swansea Contact: j.spurr@swansea.ac.uk
Vol. 3	The Reign of James II, 1685-1687 Professor Tim Harris, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island Contact: tim_harris@brown.edu
Vol. 4	The Reign of James II, 1687-1689 Professor Stephen Taylor, University of Reading Contact: s.j.c.taylor@reading.ac.uk
Vol. 5	The Reign of William III, 1689-1691 Professor Mark Knights, University of Warwick Contact: m.j.knights@warwick.ac.uk
Vol. 6	Biographical Dictionary and Glossary Dr Jason McElligott, Merton College, Oxford Contact: jason.mcelligott@merton.ox.ac.uk

The team included Dr Frances Henderson, an expert in seventeenth-century shorthand, who decoded those parts of the text written in cipher. Dr Henderson previously worked on the shorthand papers of William Clarke, the secretary of the New Model Army during the English Revolution.

The Morrice Board also included:

Dr Clyve Jones, Institute of Historical Research, London
Professor John Morrill, University of Cambridge
Dr David Wykes, Dr Williams's Library, London

A detail from the Entring Book

The Roger Morrice Entring Book Project was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Board and supported by the Trustees and Friends of Dr Williams's Library.

Assessment

For an assessment of the Project see G. Tapsell, 'Roger Morrice and the Restoration Twilight of Puritan Politics', Parliamentary History, 28 (2009), 266-99.