Riot Rebellion And Popular Politics In Early Modern England

Riot, Rebellion and Popular Politics in Early Modern England reassesses the relationship between politics, social change and popular culture in the period c. 1520-1730. It argues that early modern politics needs to be understood in broad terms, to include not only states and elites, but also disputes over the control of resources and the distribution of power. Andy Wood assesses the history of riot and rebellion in the early modern period, concentrating upon: popular involvement in religious change and political conflict, especially the Reformation and the English Revolution; relations between ruler and ruled; seditious speech; popular politics and the early modern state; custom, the law and popular politics; the impact of literacy and print; and the role of ritual, gender and local identity in popular politics.

This text provides a critical overview of the new social history of politics in early modern England. It examines the shifting place of popular politics within the polity, focusing in particular on collective disorder.

Early modern England was marked by profound changes in economy, society, politics and religion. It is widely believed that the poverty and discontent which these changes often caused resulted in major rebellion and frequent 'riots'. Whereas the politics of the people have often been described as a 'many-headed monster'; spasmodic and violent, and the only means by which the people could gain expression in a highly hierarchical society and a state that denied them a political voice, the essays in this collection argue for the inherently political nature of popular protest through a series of studies of acts of collective protest, up to and including the English Revolution.

What have maypoles, charivari processions, and stoolball matches to do with the English Civil War? A great deal, argues David Underdown. Using three western counties as a case-study, he shows that the war was neither a dispute confined to the elite nor a class struggle of the 'middling sort' against a discredited aristocracy. It was in fact the result of profound disagreements among people of all social levels about the moral basis of their communities; commoners as well as ruler held strong opinions about order and governance. But these opinions varied from place to place, and through a pioneering synthesis of social history and popular culture, Underdown relates political diversity to cultural diversity, and shows that local difference in popular allegiance in the Civil War coincided with regional contrast in the traditional festive culture. The book is thus an important reinterpretation of both the English Revolution and the relationship between society, politics, andculture in the seventeenth century.

The Ashgate Research Companion to Popular Culture in Early Modern England is a comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of current research on popular culture in the early modern era. For the first time a detailed yet wide-ranging consideration of the breadth and scope of early modern popular culture in England is collected in one volume, highlighting the interplay of 'low' and 'high' modes of cultural production (while also questioning the validity of such terminology). The authors examine how popular culture impacted upon people's everyday lives during the period, helping to define how individuals and groups experienced the world. Issues as disparate as popular reading cultures, games, food and drink, time, textiles, religious belief and superstition, and the function of festivals and rituals are discussed. This research companion will be an essential resource for scholars and students of early modern history and culture.

What do maypoles, charivari processions, and stoolball matches have to do with the English civil war? A great deal, argues Underdown in this provocative reinterpretation of the English Revolution. Underdown uses case histories of three western countries to show that the war was, above all, the result of profound disagreements amond people of all social levels about the moral basis of their communities--that commoners as well as rulers held strong opinions about order and governance. Through an original synthesis of social history and popular culture, Underdown links these regionally diverse political opinions to cultural diversity and shows that local differences in popular allegiance in the civil war strikingly coincided with regional contrasts in the traditional festive culture. This pioneering study offers a new understanding of the relationship between society, politics, and culture in 17th-century England.

Rebellion, riot and popular unrest have been the theme of a succession of stimulating and influential articles in Past and Present. This selection shows how the various forms of popular protest in England from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries have been reinterpreted by modern scholars. Topics range from the great Tudor rebellions of 1536 and 1549 to the urban disorders in London and the food riots of the eighteenth century. Behind this variety, however, there were important continuities and similarities. Gathered in a single volume, the essays show how detailed studies of popular protest have transformed our knowledge of popular mentality and its relationship with social and economic change.

This is a major study of the 1549 rebellions, the largest and most important risings in Tudor England. Based upon extensive archival evidence, the book sheds fresh light on the causes, course and long-term consequences of the insurrections. Andy Wood focuses on key themes in the social history of politics, concerning the end of medieval popular rebellion; the Reformation and popular politics; popular political language; early modern state formation; speech, silence and social relations; and social memory and the historical representation of the rebellions. He examines the long-term significance of the rebellions for the development of English society, arguing that the rebellions represent an important moment of discontinuity between the late medieval and the early modern periods. This compelling history of Tudor politics from the bottom up will be essential reading for late medieval and early modern historians as well as early modern literary critics.