Parish

This chapter explores Blackfriars’ parochial identity as St. Anne’s Blackfriars. The parish became a stronghold of godly Protestantism in later sixteenth-century London, thanks to the efforts of the resident preachers Stephen Egerton and William Gouge, and their local lay supporters. Their powerful and sometimes provocative preaching attracted a wide audience, including many parish outsiders. The Blackfriars’ association with the religious avant-garde of puritan activism was reinforced by the many Huguenot residents from overseas who shared the desire of men like Egerton and Gouge for a more perfectly reformed church. The chapter makes special note of the many foreign-born stationers living in Blackfriars and their output of reformed religious works.