Symbolic Violence and ‘Branding’ in the Puritan Reformation of London, 1634–1660

In early modern London, violence against religious dissenters took various forms: the pillory, flogging, branding, ear cropping, and executions. These punishments served as a warning not only to the victim but also to the crowds that often gathered in various spaces in London to witness them. Growing opposition to this violence, often ordered by the monarchy, was one of the factors that led to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642. When parliament returned in 1640, control of London was progressively wrested away from those who supported Charles I. Such forms of violence subsequently disappeared from London. Public displays of violence remained, however, in symbolic form, as the executioner’s presence became common in various public spaces. Previously under the monarch’s control, parliament regularly ordered the hangman to publicise its orthodox ‘brand’ by publicly burning the doctrines of various religious and political sects, as part of London’s ‘Further Reformation’.