Baal's Priests

'Fiona McCall is to be congratulated for producing a perceptive and engaging work examining the English Civil War and, specifically, the suffering of the clergy which occurred during it. ... McCall's monograph is full of extremely rich and detailed analysis of the period ... Her scholarship is characterized by a patient willingness to examine her primary sources and ask astute questions about their character, veracity, and style. Her work brings to life the fact that the English Civil War was a time of terrible suffering, disruption, and persecution, particularly for those royalist clergy who were ejected from their churches.' Sixteenth Century Journal 'This book will be of relevance to anyone interested in the events of the English Revolution and their long-term religious impact on the Church of England. It helps to correct the historiographical bias, which has seen a plethora of studies on the Puritan, Presbyterian, and independent clergy during the Civil Wars and on their fortunes after the Restoration. By putting the experiences of the orthodox, loyalist clergy center stage the author has made a significant contribution to modern scholarship on the seventeenth-century English clergy.' Renaissance Quarterly 'McCall enables us to understand the experience of loyalist ejection as reflected in personal narratives and summarized in statistical analysis. McCall's work is particularly valuable insofar as narratives of parish incumbents and their parishioners have not been combined with secondary research into one full-length historical study.' Anglican and Episcopal History 'In Baal's Priests, Fiona McCall has written a valuable study which will once again direct historians' attentions towards the Walker manuscripts, and in terms of extended quotations from the manuscripts which highlight the variety of information contained within them, McCall's book provides more scope than either Tatham or Matthews. She displays an impressive knowledge of the Walker manuscripts, and spots some nice details amongst them.' Reviews in History 'In Baal's Priests, Fiona McCall has written an important study which will hopefully provoke an interest in the Walker manuscripts. . The book is solidly researched and is written in a style that is both accessible to the academic and general reader. [...] It should be seen as a good introduction to the subject and not the final word on royalism, or the Walker manuscripts.' A Trumpet of Sedition 'McCall's impressive book ... makes a valuable contribution to current scholarship on the formation of political and religious identities in the Civil War.' History 'Fiona McCall has produced an excellent, enthralling and accessible account of the sufferings of loyalist clergy in the English Revolution.' English Historical Review