Staff profile

Stephen Taylor is a specialist in the religious and political history of England in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and his published work has touched on topics as diverse as the identity of Anglicanism, court culture, party politics, the circulation of news and libertinism. He is currently working with Kenneth Fincham (Kent) on two books on religious history in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: The Restoration of the Church of England 1660-1662 (Boydell Press) and Revolution and the Creation of Anglicanism (Yale University Press). With Kenneth Fincham and Arthur Burns (KCL) he has been, since 1999, one of the Directors of The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835. In a collaboration between the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies and Boydell and Brewer Ltd, he has recently established Durham University IMEMS Press, a new imprint specialising in the publication of work in medieval and early modern studies broadly defined.

Research Projects

• British state prayers, fasts and thanksgivings,1540s to 1940s
• The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540-1835 (CCEd)

• Politics and religion in eighteenth-century England
• Religious conformity in the English revolution
• The Hanoverian monarchy and court culture, especially Caroline of Ansbach
• The Church of England and Anglicanism from the 16th to the 19th century
• The revolution of 1688
• Newsletters and news culture in the later seventeenth century
• John, Lord Hervey

• 2024: Visiting Fellow, The Huntington Library, California:
• 2012: Woodward and Bernstein Endowment Fellow, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin:
• 2011: Visiting Fellow, Peterhouse, Cambridge:
• 2009: Visiting Fellow, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC:
• 2007: Pforzheimer Fellow, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin:
• 2007: Visiting Fellow, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC:

Chapter in book

• Taylor, S., & Harris, T. State trials and the rule of law under the later Stuarts. In B. Cowan, & S. Sowerby (Eds.), The State Trials and the Politics of Justice in Later Stuart and Early Hanoverian England (24-49). Boydell Press
• Taylor, S., & Fincham, K. (2017). Episcopalian Identity, 1640-1662. In A. Milton (Ed.), The Oxford History of Anglicanism. I: Reformation and Identity c.1520-1662 (457-482). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780199639731.003.0025
• Taylor, S., & Fincham, K. (2013). The restoration of the Church of England, 1660-1662: ordination, re-ordination and conformity. In S. Taylor, & G. Tapsell (Eds.), The nature of the English revolution revisited. Essays in honour of John Morrill (197-232). Boydell Press
• Taylor, S. (2013). State formation, political stability and the revolution of 1688. In T. Harris, & S. Taylor (Eds.), The final crisis of the Stuart monarchy. The revolutions of 1688-91 in their British, Atlantic and European contexts (273-304). Boydell Press
• Taylor, S., Burns, A., & Fincham, K. (2013). The problems and potential of pouring old wine into new bottles: reflections on the Clergy of the Church of England Database 1999-2009 and beyond. In R. C. Hayes, & W. J. Sheils (Eds.), Clergy, church and society in England and Wales c.1200-1800 (45-60). Borthwick Institute for Archives
• Fincham, K., & Taylor, S. (2010). Episcopalian conformity and nonconformity 1646–1660. In J. McElligott, & D. Smith (Eds.), Royalists and Royalism during the Interregnum (18-43). Manchester University Press
• Taylor, S. (2010). George III’s recovery from madness celebrated: precedent and innovation in the observance of royal celebrations and commemorations. In S. Taylor, & M. Barber (Eds.), From the Reformation to the permissive society. A miscellany in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Lambeth Palace Library (211-267). Church of England Record Society
• Taylor, S. (2010). The Bowman affair: latitudinarian theology, anti-clericalism and the limits of orthodoxy in early Hanoverian England. In R. Cornwall, & W. Gibson (Eds.), Religion, politics and dissent, 1660–1832. Essays in honour of James E. Bradley (35-50). Ashgate Publishing
• Taylor, S. (2010). The restoration of the dean and canons in 1660. In N. Saul, & T. Tatton-Brown (Eds.), St George’s Chapel, Windsor. History, architecture, furnishings. Essays in honour of Eileen Scarff (125-133, 244-245). Dovecote Press
• Taylor, S. (2009). An English dissenter and the crisis of European protestantism: Roger Morrice’s perceptions of European politics in the 1680s. In D. Onnekink (Ed.), War and religion in Europe 1648–1713 (177-195). Ashgate Publishing
• Taylor, S. (2007). The clergy at the courts of George I and George II. In M. Schaich (Ed.), Monarchy and religion. The transformation of royal culture in eighteenth-century Europe (129-151). Oxford University Press
• Taylor, S. (2004). 'Sir Robert Walpole', 'Edmund Gibson (bishop of London)', 'Benjamin Hoadly (bishop of Winchester)', 'William Wake (archbishop of Canterbury)', 'Queen Caroline (of Ansbach)', and others. In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press
• Taylor, S. (2004). Un Etat confessionel? L’Eglise d’Angleterre, la constitution et la vie politique au XVIIIe siècle. In A. Joblin, & J. Sys (Eds.), L’identité anglicane (141-154). Artois Presses Université
• Taylor, S., & Parry, J. (2000). Parliament and the Church of England from the Reformation to the twentieth century. In S. Taylor, & J. Parry (Eds.), Parliament and the Church, 1529–1960 (1-13). Edinburgh University Press
• Taylor, S. (1999). Bishop Edmund Gibson’s proposals for church reform. In S. Taylor (Ed.), From Cranmer to Davidson. A Church of England miscellany (169-202). Boydell Press
• Taylor, S. (1998). Queen Caroline and the Church of England. In S. Taylor, R. Connors, & C. Jones (Eds.), Hanoverian Britain and Empire. Essays in memory of Philip Lawson (82-101). Boydell Press
• Taylor, S. (1995). "Dr Codex" and the whig "pope": Edmund Gibson, bishop of Lincoln and London, 1716–48. In R. Davis (Ed.), Lords of Parliament: studies 1714–1914 (9-28, 183-191). Stanford University Press
• Taylor, S. (1995). The government and the episcopate in mid-eighteenth-century England: the uses of patronage. In C. Giry-Deloison, & R. Mettam (Eds.), Patronages et clientélismes 1550–1750 (France, Angleterre, Espagne, Italie) (191-205). Centre d’Histoire de la Région du Nord et de l’Europe de Nord-ouest and Institut Français du Royaume-Uni
• Taylor, S., & Walsh, J. (1993). The Church and Anglicanism in the “long” eighteenth century. In J. Walsh, C. Haydon, & S. Taylor (Eds.), The Church of England c. 1689 – c. 1833. From Toleration to Tractarianism (1-64). Cambridge University Press
• Taylor, S. (1989). The bishops at Westminster in the mid-eighteenth century. In C. Jones (Ed.), A pillar of the constitution: the House of Lords in British politics 1640–1784 (137-163). Hambledon Press

Edited book

• Taylor, S., & Tapsell, G. (Eds.). (2013). The nature of the English revolution revisited. Essays in honour of John Morrill. Boydell Press
• Harris, T., & Taylor, S. (Eds.). (2013). The final crisis of the Stuart monarchy. The revolutions of 1688-91 in their British, Atlantic and European contexts. Boydell Press
• Taylor, S., & Barber, M. (Eds.). (2010). From the Reformation to the permissive society. A miscellany in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Lambeth Palace Library. Boydell Press
• Taylor, S., & Wykes, D. (Eds.). (2005). Parliament and Dissent, 1689–1914. Edinburgh University Press
• Taylor, S., & Smith, M. (Eds.). (2004). Evangelicalism in the Church of England c.1790–c.1890. A Miscellany. Boydell Press
• Taylor, S., & Parry, J. (Eds.). (2000). Parliament and the Church, 1529–1960. Edinburgh University Press
• Taylor, S. (Ed.). (1999). From Cranmer to Davidson. A Church of England miscellany. Boydell Press
• Taylor, S., Connors, R., & Jones, C. (Eds.). (1998). Hanoverian Britain and Empire. Essays in memory of Philip Lawson. Boydell Press
• Walsh, J., Taylor, S., & Haydon, C. (Eds.). (1993). The Church of England c.1689 – c.1833. From Toleration to Tractarianism. Cambridge University Press

Journal Article

• Taylor, S. (in press). The long Reformation: conceptualisation and periodisation in English religious history between the 16th and 18th centuries. The East Asian Journal of British History,
• Fincham, K., & Taylor, S. (2023). The English Presbyterian Conundrum of 1660-1. The Seventeenth Century, 38(6), 969-987. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268117X.2023.2276601
• Taylor, S., & Fincham, K. (2011). Vital statistics: episcopal ordination and ordinands in England, 1646–60. The English Historical Review, CXXVI(519), 319-344. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cer075
• Taylor, S., & Smith, H. (2009). Hephaestion and Alexander: Lord Hervey, Frederick, prince of Wales, and the royal favourite in England in the 1730s. The English Historical Review, CXXIV(507), 283-312. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cep003
• Taylor, S. (2000). Whigs, tories and anticlericalism: ecclesiastical courts legislation in 1733. Parliamentary History, 19(3), 329-355
• Taylor, S. (1996). Whigs, bishops and America: the politics of church reform in mid-eighteenth-century England. Historical Journal, 36, 331-356
• Taylor, S., & Jones, C. (1996). Viscount Bolingbroke and the composition of an opposition protest in the house of lords in 1734 on the election of the Scottish representative peers
• Taylor, S. (1994). Plus ça change...? New perspectives on the revolution of 1688. Historical Journal, 37(2), 457-470
• Taylor, S. (1993). Archbishop Potter and the dissenters
• Taylor, S. (1992). William Warburton and the alliance of church and state. Journal of Ecclesiastical History, XLIII, 271-286
• Taylor, S. (1992). "The fac totum in ecclesiastic affairs"? The duke of Newcastle and the crown's ecclesiastical patronage
• Taylor, S. (1989). British politics in the age of Holmes. Parliamentary History, 8, 132-141
• Taylor, S. (1988). Church and society after the Glorious Revolution. Historical Journal, XXXI, 973-987
• Taylor, S. (1985). Sir Robert Walpole, the Church of England and the Quakers Tithe Bill of 1736. Historical Journal, 28, 51-77

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Burns, A., Fincham, K., & Taylor, S. (2005). The Clergy of the Church of England Database 1540–1835

Report

• Taylor, S., Gasper, G., Uchacz, T., Smithson, H., McLeish, T., Kollandsrud, K., Horsfield, F., Donnelly, C., & Evans, I. (2022). Cultural Heritage 360: A Report for the AHRC Programme: Where Next? Scoping Future Arts and Humanities Led Research. Arts and Humanities Research Council

Scholarly Edition

• Williamson, P., Taylor, S., Raffe, A., & Mears, N. (2020). National Prayers: Special Worship since the Reformation. Volume 3: Worship for national and royal occasions in the United Kingdom, 1871-2016
• Williamson, P., Raffe, A., Taylor, S., & Mears, N. (2017). National Prayers: Special Worship since the Reformation. Volume 2: General Fasts, Thanksgivings and Special Prayers in the British Isles, 1689-1870
• Mears, N., Raffe, A., Williamson, P., & Taylor, S. (2013). National Prayers: Special Worship since the Reformation. Volume 1: Special Prayers, Fasts and Thanksgivings in the British Isles, 1533-1688
• Taylor, S. (2007). The Entring Book of Roger Morrice. Volume 4: 1687–1689
• Taylor, S., & Jones, C. (1998). Tory and whig. The parliamentary papers of Edward Harley, 3rd earl of Oxford, and of William Hay, M.P. for Seaford, 1716–1753