Banishment of Roger Williams from Massachusetts Bay Colony
- When
- 1635–1636
- Where
- Massachusetts Bay Colony
- Episodes
- 2
Roger Williams was convicted of sedition and heresy by the Massachusetts Bay Colony General Court in October 1635. Following his refusal to comply with the banishment order, he fled during a blizzard in January 1636 to establish Providence Plantations.
Episodes
- Trial and Conviction
The General Court tried Roger Williams in October 1635 and convicted him of sedition and heresy.
- Flight from Banishment
Williams fled during a blizzard in January 1636, evading the sheriff who arrived to enforce the banishment.
Background and detail
Legal Proceedings. In December 1633, Williams was summoned to Boston to defend a tract attacking the King and the charter. In March 1635, he was again ordered before the General Court to answer for erroneous and dangerous opinions, leading to his final trial in October 1635.
Banishment and Flight. The General Court convicted Williams of sedition and heresy in October 1635. He did not comply with the demand to leave, and the sheriff arrived in January 1636 to find Williams had already slipped away three days earlier during a blizzard.
People involved
- Roger Williams · Minister and defendant
- General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony · Judicial body
Sources
- Roger Williams Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-13
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.