Publications
The Diary of Samuel Rogers, 1634-1638, eds Tom Webster and Kenneth Shipps, 2004Samuel Rogers began his diary just before his twenty-first birthday. He was a godly minister from godly stock - his grandfather, father and uncle were all part of the Puritan Movement. His diary begins as Samuel finishes his education at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He expresses his intense loneliness as chaplain to the unsatisfactory Dennys of Bishops Stortford, and his efforts to obtain comfort from the nearby godly community - including visits to Wethersfield, where his father was lecturer. His isolation eases, and his diary ends, shortly after he was appointed chaplain to the family of Lady Mary de Vere, whose contacts with prominent members of the godly he details in these pages. The diary's unrivalled view, from a day-to-day puritan perspective, of what the 1630s were like for a godly minister makes it a valuable record. For Samuel Rogers, everything is of religious relevance: in addition to the social detail of the diary there is also a real and persuasive revelation of the spiritual meaning of Puritanism.
Tom Webster is lecturer in history at the University of Edinburgh.
ISBN: 1 84383 043 4. Price: £55 (Members: £27.50).
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