Tamsin Spargo
Vol. 17, No. 2 (Fall 1998), 255-268

This essay explores a series of episodes involving three prominent nonconformists of the 1650s and Restoration—George Fox, Anna Trapnel, and John Bunyan—and considers the ways in which ideas about sexuality factor into the gossip that caused each to be accused of either witchcraft or the shameless seduction of female disciples. Unlike prior scholars who have underplayed the significance of such accusations as the product of hearsay, this essay argues that these rumors importantly underscore the role of excess in nonconformist communities. If critics have long identified excess sexuality with nonconformity as a classic charge of conservative detractors, this paper urges readers to recognize that nonconformists understood excess desire to flow through spiritual communities. Seventeenth-century writings on sacred topics are rarely straightforward theological statements, but engage secular concerns including sexual desire.