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The '''Conventicle Act 1664''' was an [[Act of Parliament|Act]] of the [[Parliament of England]] (16 [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] c. 4<ref>This nomenclature is a reference to the statute book of the numbered year of the reign of the named King in the stated chapter. This is the method used for [[Act of Parliament|Acts of Parliament]] from before 1962. Although [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] did not assume the throne until 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father, [[Charles I of England|Charles I]], as king in 1649.</ref>) that forbade [[conventicle]]s, defined as religious assemblies of more than five people other than an immediate family, outside the auspices of the [[Church of England]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lodge|first=Richard|year=1923|title=The History of England From the Restoration to the Death of William III (1660–1702)|page=69|oclc=740976301 }}</ref>
This law was a part of the [[Clarendon Code]], named after [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon]], which aimed to discourage [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformism]] and to strengthen the position of the [[Established Church]] but the Clarendon Code was not actually the work of Clarendon himself, who favoured a policy of greater tolerance towards dissenters.<ref>[http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/clarendon_code.htm History Learning Site – Clarendon Code]</ref> These prohibitions led many, such as the [[Covenanter]]s, to vacate their parishes rather than submit to the new Episcopal authorities. Just as the ministers left so too did the congregations, following their old pastors to sermons on the hillside. From small beginnings these field assemblies—or conventicles—were to grow into major problems of public order for the government.{{fact}}
The operation of the Clarendon Code at least as far as [[Protestantism|Protestants]] were concerned was mitigated somewhat by Charles II's [[Royal Declaration of Indulgence]] in 1672, which suspended the execution of the [[penal law (Britain)|Penal Laws]] and allowed a certain number of non-conformist [[chapel]]s to be staffed and constructed, with the pastors subject to royal approval.
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