ABSTRACT
At the conclusion of May 1598, John Darrell and his Puritan brother George More were confined to jail cells in London awaiting trial at the High Commission. This ecclesiastical body indicted Darrell on charges of fraud and counterfeiting, declaring that his exorcism ministry was part of a coordinated campaign to proselytise Puritanism. Fronted by a panel of bishops, high-ranking theologians, and judges, the formation of this High Commission into Darrell’s dispossession activities was an attempt to denounce the powerful Puritan factions supporting the exorcist. John Whitgift, Richard Bancroft, and Samuel Harsnett emerged as the lead commissioners and all three of these churchmen were determined to purge spiritual nonconformity from the English Church.
Chapter Five investigates the judicial proceedings of the High Commission, detailing the drastic measures that the English episcopacy enacted to determine Darrell’s guilt. Unable to combat the inordinate powers of the High Commission in the courtroom, the Puritans responded in print. The ensuing polemical conflict between the Puritan factions and the ecclesiastical authorities encapsulates the central concerns of demonological discussion in this period. Shedding new light on this convoluted event, this chapter provides an in-depth study of Darrell’s High Commission hearings and surveys the rich literary legacy of the Darrell Controversy.
