The Sinner
1634 - 1638
In November 1637, Anne Hutchinson is summoned
before the General Court at Newtowne. She is called to respond to a synod that
declares eighty-two opinions held by Anne and her disciples blasphemous. The
ministers rule that while a few women might meet to say prayers and edify one
another, “Mistress Hutchinson’s gatherings are disorderly, disruptive and
inappropriate for a female to conduct.”
Agnes and Anne make the journey to Cambridge on
foot, passing through an ice storm in backwoods still haunted by wolves. The
women arrive half-frozen and exhausted. The axe has already fallen on several
of Anne’s followers, disenfranchised and banished from the colony for signing
the Wheelwright petition. John Wheelwright himself is given fourteen days to
get out of Massachusetts.
Finally, it’s Anne’s turn to face Governor Winthrop
and forty-eight inquisitors in a barn-like meetinghouse – nine magistrates,
thirty-one deputies, eight ministers and one church elder, all at their wit’s
end because of one woman and the trouble she is bringing to Paradise.
The black-coats sit on wooden benches, except their
leader who has a desk and a chair with a cushioned seat. Anne, who is expecting
her fifteenth child, is made to stand throughout the proceedings. Agnes and
other spectators are jammed into the back of the cold, dark building.
Anne: I am called here to answer before you, but I hear no things laid to
my charge.
Gov. Winthrop: I have told you some already and more I can tell
you.
Anne: Name one, Sir.
Gov. Winthrop: Have I not named some already?
Gov. Winthrop: You did harbor and countenance those that are
parties in this faction.
Anne: That’s a matter of conscience, Sir.
The trial lasts two days. It is from the outset, a
personal clash between Anne and the man who seeks to destroy her. At the end of
the hearing, Winthrop calls for a vote on Anne’s “delusions.”
“The court hath declared themselves satisfied
concerning the troublesomeness of her spirit and the danger of her course among
us, which is not to be suffered. Therefore if it be the mind of the court that
Mrs. Hutchinson is unfit for our society, let them hold up their hands.”
All but three vote in favor of banishment.
Anne is permitted to stay in Boston until spring
but forced to live apart from her husband and children. She’s held in the house
of Joseph Weld, brother of a fiery minister, Thomas Weld, who keeps watch on
the heretic day and night.
Twelve days after sentencing Anne, the General
Court carries out a pre-emptive strike against the Hutchinsonians. Fifty-eight
Boston men are served with notices ordering them to surrender their guns and
pistols. The list is headed by Captain Underhill, who is stripped of all
offices and disenfranchised. Nat Steele’s name is on the list, though he won’t
return from his voyage for several months.
Thomas has the duty of seeing the order is obeyed,
making him the most hated man in the town. He quickly transports the powder and
ammunition of Boston to Newton and Roxbury to dampen the threat of
insurrection. Thirty men publicly recant their support for Wheelwright and get
to keep their guns. The rest finally give in and hand over their weapons.
No comments:
Post a Comment