A Calvinist Bolthole? The Unusual Survival of Great Yarmouth's Dutch Congregation

Abstract

The case of Great Yarmouth's Dutch congregation exemplifies the complexity of the migrant experience in early modern Britain. It shows how a community of Dutch émigrés defined itself through its Calvinist faith, with the minister, congregation and chapel all playing central roles. Over the seventeenth century, the number of Dutch exiles and their descendants in Great Yarmouth dwindled, threatening the survival of their ministry and the community it sustained. It was the choice between separation from, or assimilation to, the English community that created a tension between the town's Dutch ministers, their congregation and the town's Puritan elite. The exceptional success of second- and third-generation Dutch migrants in maintaining their community for over a century before the congregation's dissolution can be attributed to Great Yarmouth's unique economic circumstances as the main port for Dutch herring fishermen and a complex religious settlement that pitted Calvinist Presbyterians and Independents against conformist Anglicans.