Anna Trapnel

Anna Trapnel joined the Fifth Monarchists in London (she worshiped primarily among the Baptists) in 1652, a group of radical Christian believers with whom she was associated with from that point forward. During this time, Trapnel’s visions become more prophetic, resulting in her ability to see future events. These visions were published in a series of pamphlets which relayed her prophetic abilities. Among her visions was that that of New Model Army’s entry into London, Cromwell’s defeat of the Scots at Dunbar in 1650, a 1652 victory by the Dutch, and Cromwell’s dissolution of the Barebones Parliament in 1653, which resulted in his being declared Protector.

Trapnel was born in the Parish of St. Dunstan’s in Stepney, England, probably in the 1620s, though the date of her birth is not precisely known. Her father, William Trapnel, was a shipwright in the town of Poplar. At the time, Poplar was a small hamlet where a number of ship workers lived while working on the Blackwell shipyards. Trapnel was an only child and little is known of her mother other than that she raised Trapnel to be literate and to believe in God. Despite the religious zeal she was imparted from an early age, Trapnel was never baptized, though that did not deter her from her faith, later claiming, “When a child, the Lord awed my spirit, and so for the least trespass, my heart was smitten.” In 1645, Trapnel began to have visions of a religious nature. In 1647, she recorded her first vision which occurred after the death of her mother. Following that event, Trapnel went to live with her aunt (her father was already dead). During this time, she was visiting multiple dissenting congregations, namely around the St. Dunstan’s area in Stepney. As she sought for a genuine religious experience, she often subjected herself to serious fasting, resulting in trances and visions. Though these occurrences were extreme, they were not uncommon at that time among several of the dissenting sects.

In 1654, while attending a trial at Whitehall, Trapnel went into an extended  trance full of singing, praying, and prophesizing. She was taken to a local inn where she remained on the bed with her eyes closed and recited bible verses from memory. Over these eleven or twelve days, Trapnel refused to eat or drink anything except for some beer. One of her visions during this trance was that God would punish Cromwell for his corruptions. This long trance propelled Trapnel’s notoriety, making her famous around England. However, while her fame may have grown, Trapnel’s visions and statements created enemies as well. She voiced strong opinions on equality of the sexes and was highly critical of Cromwell’s Protectorate government. Her criticism and attacks on Cromwell may well could have resulted in her death given England’s political and religious turmoil after the Civil war. Additionally, Trapnel’s claim that she was God’s prophet resulted in accusations from multiple religious institutions that she was engaging in blasphemy and witchcraft.

Another compelling dream-vision occurred in Cornwall in 1654. While there, Trapnel actively preached and prophesied. In April, she was arrested on charges of witchcraft, madness, whoredom, vagrancy, and seditious intent. At her trial she answered the judges’ questions about the reason behind her travels with more questions, parables, and bible verses. During the trial, she insisted she was a single, free woman with the right to pray, publish, and travel according to common law and the word of God. Unfortunately, the only account of Trapnel’s trial at Cornwall is her own, which appeared in A Narrative of Her Journey into Cornwall.  Trapnel managed to escape conviction, and possibly death, through her verbosity; she was taken to Plymouth and then sent to London where she was imprisoned in Bridewell. However, because of the height of her fame, the government did not want to turn Trapnel into a martyr and thus released her in July 1754. After her release, Trapnel continued to travel and prophesy. Her first-person accounts include Strange and Wonderful Newes from White-Hall, The Cry of a Stone, A Legacy for Saints, and Anna Trapnel’s Report and Please, all published in 1654.

For more on Trapnel, see Curtis Freeman, A Company of Women Preachers: Baptist Prophetesses in Seventeenth-Century England (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011); Rachel Adcock, Baptist Women’s Writings in Revolutionary Culture, 1640-1680 (Farnham, Surry, UK: Ashgate, 2015.