Petitioning as popular politics in early sixteenth–century England
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that petitioning by collective groups, whether occupational, regionally constituted, or simply the body of people called the commons, was an important form of political communication in the early sixteenth century which allows us an entry into the world of popular politics.
Abstract: This article offers the thesis that petitioning by collective groups, whether occupational, regionally constituted, or simply the body of people called the commons, was an important form of political communication in the early sixteenth century which, although poorly documented and consequently overlooked by historians, allows us an entry into the world of popular politics. The article offers illustrations of the way in which petitions were employed within the city of York, by groups such as weavers or by the commons of East Anglia in 1549 and 1553. The right to petition could not be denied, but mass petitioning was viewed with apprehension by government. Nonetheless, petitioning may be seen as a conservative form of behaviour when compared to calls for insurrection.
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14 Jul 2009TL;DR: The 1549 rebellions as mentioned in this paper have been studied in the context of political language, memory, myth and representation, and the later meanings of the 1549 rebellion in later sixteenth and early seventeenth-century England.
Abstract: Acknowledgements List of abbreviations Preface Introduction Part I. Context: 1. The 1549 rebellions 2. 'Precious bloody shedding': repression and resistance, 1549-1553 Part II. Political Language: 3. Speech, silence and the recovery of rebel voices 4. Rebel political language Part III. Consequences: 5. The decline of insurrection in later sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England 6. Memory, myth and representation: the later meanings of the 1549 rebellions Bibliography Index.
84 citations
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28 Feb 2018TL;DR: In this paper, the authors provide fresh perspectives on the political, military, religious, social, cultural, intellectual, economic, and environmental history of early modern Ireland and situates these discussions in global and comparative contexts.
Abstract: This volume offers fresh perspectives on the political, military, religious, social, cultural, intellectual, economic, and environmental history of early modern Ireland and situates these discussions in global and comparative contexts. The opening chapters focus on 'Politics' and 'Religion and War' and offer a chronological narrative, informed by the re-interpretation of new archives. The remaining chapters are more thematic, with chapters on 'Society', 'Culture', and 'Economy and Environment', and often respond to wider methodologies and historiographical debates. Interdisciplinary cross-pollination - between, on the one hand, history and, on the other, disciplines like anthropology, archaeology, geography, computer science, literature and gender and environmental studies - informs many of the chapters. The volume offers a range of new departures by a generation of scholars who explain in a refreshing and accessible manner how and why people acted as they did in the transformative and tumultuous years between 1550 and 1730.
65 citations
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01 Jan 2003TL;DR: Ryrie as discussed by the authors argues that during the last decade of Henry VIII's life, his Protestant subjects struggled to reconcile two loyalties: to their Gospel and to their king, and describes how a radicalised English Protestantism emerged from it.
Abstract: During the last decade of Henry VIII’s life, his Protestant subjects struggled to reconcile two loyalties: to their Gospel and to their king. This book tells the story of that struggle and describes how a radicalised English Protestantism emerged from it. Focusing on the critical but neglected period 1539–47, Dr Ryrie argues that these years were not the ‘conservative reaction’ of conventional historiography, but a time of political fluidity and ambiguity. Most evangelicals continued to hope that the king would favour their cause, and remained doctrinally moderate and politically conformist. The author examines this moderate reformism in a range of settings - in the book trade, in the universities, at court and in underground congregations. He also describes its gradual eclipse, as shifting royal policy and the dynamics of the evangelical movement itself pushed reformers towards the more radical, confrontational Protestantism which was to shape the English identity for centuries.
• The book focuses on the final years of Henry VIII’s reign, a critical and neglected period of the early Reformation
• It offers an original analysis of the origins of England’s Protestant culture
• The book places early Reformation theology in its historical, social and political setting
39 citations
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30 Nov 2017
TL;DR: In the decades before the Civil War, English readers confronted an extensive and influential pamphlet literature, which addressed contemporary events in scathingly critical terms, was produced in enormous quantities and was devoured by the curious as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In the decades before the Civil War, English readers confronted an extensive and influential pamphlet literature. This literature addressed contemporary events in scathingly critical terms, was produced in enormous quantities and was devoured by the curious. Despite widespread contemporary interest and an enormous number of surviving copies, this literature has remained almost entirely unknown to scholars because it was circulated in handwriting rather than printed with movable type. Drawing from book history, the sociology of knowledge and the history of political thought, Noah Millstone provides the first systematic account of the production, circulation and reception of these manuscript pamphlets. By placing them in the context of social change, state formation, and the emergence of 'politic' expertise, Millstone uses the pamphlets to resolve one of the central problems of early Stuart history: how and why did the men and women of early seventeenth-century England come to see their world as political?
37 citations
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TL;DR: For example, the authors argues that change occurred in many features of society over a long period and that the 1688-1701 reforms were just one element of a deep ongoing transformation resulting from evolutionary processes.
Abstract: This paper challenges a belief that is deeply embedded in mainstream economics — that 1688-1701 saw a fundamental transformation in England, which sprang from changes in the highest-level institutions designed by those who understood how to effect productive reform. This is the design hypothesis. The alternative is that change occurred in many features of society over a long period and that the 1688-1701 reforms were just one element of a deep ongoing transformation resulting from evolutionary processes. The paper presents evidence of two distinct types. First, legal history shows that the high-level institutional measures of 1688-1701 can be characterized primarily as either durable and endorsing the status quo or path-breaking and ephemeral. This is evolutionary trial and error. Second, patterns in structural breaks in myriad data sets reveal that widespread socioeconomic change was under way before 1688 and continued thereafter. Because England's early development provides a popular paradigmatic example for economists, the paper's verdict on the nature of English history is pertinent to debates on transition and development, on the importance of critical junctures, and on the relative roles of culture and institutions.
29 citations