NONCONFORMISTS. – During the reign of Elisabetta d'Inghilterra (1558–1603), the name n. was given to those who had not conformed to the doctrine and ritual practice of the Anglican Church. At first it was applied to the Puritans, then it was extended to the Independents and Congregationalists, and at present this name includes all those who dissent (v. DISSIDENTI) from the official Church of England (e.g., Baptists, Methodists, Adventists). Catholics, on the other hand, were generally called by the derogatory name of papists and sometimes, in more recent times, by the more accurate name of Roman Catholics. But in a stricter sense the name n. was given to Presbyterian and Independent ministers who, having received ecclesiastical benefices and offices during the English Revolution (1643–60), refused to conform to the new decrees for the restoration of the Anglican Church and were subjected to extremely severe laws.
Between 1643 and 1660, the period of the triumph of the Puritans and Independents, enemies of the episcopal system and of Anglican doctrines, the bishops and ministers of the Anglican Church were driven from their sees and replaced by Puritan ministers. When the monarchy and the official Church were restored in 1660, Parliament decreed (25 Dec. 1660) that the Anglican ministers driven out by the revolution should be restored to their offices and benefices; and by another decree of Aug. 1762, called Act of uniformity, all ministers were required to accept the doctrines of the Prayer book (v. BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER), conform to its liturgy, and be
consecrated by Anglican bishops. All those who did not adhere to these decrees were expelled from their parishes and deprived of their benefices. According to some, there were 2,000 ministers who refused to submit; according to others, they did not exceed 800. In 1665 another decree, the Five-Mile Act, ordered nonconformist ministers to live five miles away from the place where they had been ministers, or from towns that had representation in Parliament. These draconian laws were first mitigated by King Giacomo II's Declaration of indulgence and, after the revolution of 1688, abolished for Protestants, while remaining in force for Catholics until 1829 and for Jews until 1858.