Since learning about Thanksgiving in the United States, I was intrigued to know why the Mayflower Pilgrims were revered on one side of the Atlantic but rarely mentioned on the other. Why did they flee Lincolnshire in 1608? What subsequently caused Puritans from Boston, Lincolnshire to found Boston, Massachusetts? I set out to visit the county when researching my historical murder mystery Paying in Blood.
It is no longer possible to travel the whole length of the Fosse Way to Lincoln, but, after crossing the River Trent at Newent, I could imagine Roman soldiers marching through the flat landscape to their fortress on the limestone ridge ahead. Others would have arrived from York and London on Ermine Street. Many chose to retire in Roman Lundum, increasing the city’s size and wealth.
Lincoln continued to prosper during medieval times. King Richard II granted the city a lucrative charter, recognising its economic importance. Alongside, pilgrims flocked to visit St. Hugh’s shrine in the city’s magnificent cathedral which dates from 1072. It was the tallest building in the world before the central spire fell down, which would have had particular spiritual significance when people still associated the physical heavens with God.
Boston to the south was important too, as the second largest port in England during the 13th and 14th centuries. St. Botolph’s distinctive tapering tower, nicknamed “the Stump”, still dominates the surrounding fenland.
The ongoing importance of religion was apparent during King Henry VIII’s reign. Thousands of tradesmen and farmers rose in revolt against his dissolution of the monasteries in the Lincolnshire Rising of 1536. Less widely known, but equally unpopular, Henry also confiscated guild and school properties, including those in Boston.
After Queen Elizabeth I formed the English Church, religious discontent found a new voice in Puritanism, which emphasised personal improvement, preaching and bible study rather than the centralised hierarchy of bishops and priests. John Foxe, who wrote the popular history of protestant martyrs, was born in Boston. Further north in Gainsborough, wealthy Puritans funded the education of local boys, such as John Smyth and John Robinson who went on to become fervent Puritan clergymen.
Disappointed by setbacks during King James’ reign, Smyth, Robinson and other independently-minded ‘middling folk’ stopped attending parish services, and formed an illegal ‘Separatist’ community instead. Meeting in Gainsborough Old Hall, they worshipped in a less structured way, and made their own decisions at meetings where all members were allowed to vote, including women. They rejected official negative definitions of who they were, instead identifying themselves as ‘Lord’s free people’, equally empowered to discern God’s will.
Despite persecution, their radical ideas had long-lasting effect. After illegally fleeing in 1607, John Smyth’s group founded the first Baptist church in Amsterdam, a tradition which now has millions of local churches across the world. After Boston Puritans helped John Robinson’s group escape the following year, and subsequently sailed to New England on the Mayflower in 1620. After Independence, the founding fathers echoed their self-belief and determination when writing the constitution, with its famous preamble ‘we the people of the United States.’’
Visiting Lincolnshire provided the inspiration I needed to write Paying in Blood. I loved talking with lots of locals who assured me the independent spirit of the county remains strong. Also, I am more wary of any one-sided, London-centred views, since researching history there. My detective physician Baxby will remain true to his Boston origins in subsequent novels.
Karen Haden is the author of the Alexander Baxby Mysteries, published by Sharpe Books, of which Paying in Blood is the first instalment.
