Spring 2014 Dr.

Ian Archer
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA AT OXFORD

SOCIETY, RELIGION AND POLITICS IN SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY ENGLAND

Introduction

This class is intended as an introduction to the major themes of social, cultural, and
political history in the seventeenth century. This was a period of major upheaval as the
society struggled with the pressures of rising population, religious conflict, and tensions
between crown and people.

I Social Structure
II Family and Household
III Popular and Unpopular Religion
IV High Politics: The Origins of the Civil War
V Popular Politics
VI Crime
VII Popular Culture
VIII Witchcraft

The textbook for the course is K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680 (1982), for most
classes specified chapters of Wrightson will be set.

In addition to the textbook, you will be issued with a set of documents, tailored for each
of the classes. Please ensure that you have a pack for each of the eight sessions. It is
important that you read the documents in advance of each class, as the discussion will
centre on them. You will find suggestions as to the kind of questions you might be
thinking about for each class under the 'questions for sources' sections on the
accompanying lists. I will lead the discussion in the first class, but from the second
session onwards, individual members of the class will be asked to do presentations on
elements of the course documents. The questions have been allocated to groups: please
sort yourselves into groups (they need not be the same assortment of people for each
class), and prepare a joint-presentation: no more than 10 minutes per group per class.
Please bring the documents with you to the class, together with writing materials. Please
do not lose the document packs: you will have to replace them at your own expense.

You are required to write three papers for this class. Each topic has an essay question on
which you must write your paper. You may write papers on any of the topics at any time
before the end of this class, but you must have completed one of the papers by the end of
week 2 of the programme, and another by the end of week 3. For each of the topics a
supplementary list of readings is issued (i.e. further readings below). You should be able
to obtain these books and articles through the Georgia Programme Library or through the
Bodleian. Papers should be between 2000 and 3000 words long. You may use short form
references for footnoting. Please word-process your papers.



Session One: Social Structure

Essay question: How and why did contemporary perceptions of the social order change
over the course of the seventeenth century?

Core Reading: K. Wrightson, English Society (1982), chs. 1, 5

Further Reading

D. Cressy, 'Describing the Social Order of Elizabethan and Stuart England, Literature
and History (1976)

K. Wrightson, 'The Social Order of Early Modern England: Three Approaches', in L.
Bonfield et al (eds.), The World We Have Gained (1986)

K. Wrightson, 'Estates, Degrees, and Sorts: Changing Perceptions of Society in Tudor
and Stuart England, in P. Corfield (ed.), Language, History, and Class (1991)

K. Wrightson, '"Sorts of People" in Tudor and Stuart England', in J . Barry and C.W.
Brooks (eds.), The Middling Sort of People: Culture, Society, and Politics in England,
1550-1800 (1994)

C. Holmes and F. Heal, The Gentry in England and Wales, 1500-1700 (1994), chs. 1-2

G.S. Holmes, The Professions and Social Change in England, 16801730, Proceedings of
the British Academy (1979).

W. Prest (ed.), The Professions in Early Modern England (1987)

M.J . Braddick and J . Walter (eds.), Negotiating Power in Early Modern Society: Order,
Hierarchy, and Subordination in Britain and Ireland (2001), introduction

H.R. French, Social Status, Localism and the Middle Sort of People in England, 1620
1750, Past and Present, no. 166 (Feb. 2000).

H.R. French, The Middle Sort of People in Provincial England, 1600-1750 (2007)


Questions for sources

What sources are available to the historian to explore social structure? (several different
types are represented in the materials you have been given)

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the different types of source? Is there reason to
suppose that contemporary descriptions of the social order were at odds with social
realities? How do you account for any discrepancies?

What criteria did contemporaries use in determining people's social position?

What do the texts reveal about the nature of social change and of contemporaries'
reactions to it?

What do the sources tell us about standards of living?

In what ways was the composition of the early modern household different from modern
ones?

Session Two: Family and Household

Essay question: 'Patriarchal in theory; permissive in practice'. Discuss this view of
family relations in seventeenth-century England.

Core Reading: K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680 (1982), chs. 3-4

Further Reading

R. Houlbrooke, The English Family, 1450-1700 (1984)

L. Stone, The Family, Sex and Marriage in England,1500-1800 (1977)

S. Mendelson and P. Crawford, Women in Early Modern England (1998)

S.D. Amussen, 'Gender, Family, and the Social Order, 1560-1725', in A.J . Fletcher and J .
Stevenson (eds.), Order and Disorder in Early Modern England (1985)

A. Shepard, Meanings of Manhood in Early Modern England (2003)

M. Ingram, Men and Women in Late Medieval and Early Modern Times English
Historical Review, 120: 487 (2005)

P. Collinson, The Birthpangs of Protestant England: Religious and Cultural Change in
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1988), ch. 3

B. Capp, 'Separate Domains? Women and Authority in Early Modern England', in P.
Griffiths, A. Fox, and S. Hindle (eds.), The Experience of Authority in Early Modern
England (1996)

K.M. Davies, 'Continuity and Change in Literary Advice on Marriage', in R.B.
Outhwaite (ed.), Marriage and Society

L. Pollock, 'Teach Her to Live Under Obedience: The Making of Women in the Upper
Ranks of Early Modern England', Continuity and Change, 1989

Questions for sources

How internally consistent was the household ideology? (group 1, items 1-3 in pack)

What was the balance between affection and calculation in the making of marriages?
How was conflict in the household handled? (group 2, items 4-10)

Were seventeenth-century people lacking in emotional warmth in their relations with
their children? How far were children subordinated to parents in their life choices? What
was the social significance of the institution of apprenticeship? (group 3, items 11-14)

What are the major contradictions between ideals and realities revealed by the diaries and
letters in the source pack? (all)

Session Three: Popular and Unpopular Religion

Essay question: How divisive were the godly in early modern England?

Core Reading: K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680 (1982), ch. 7

Further Reading

M.J . Ingram, 'From Reformation to Toleration: Popular Religious Cultures in England,
1640-1690 in T. Harris (ed.), Popular Culture in England, c.1500-1850 (1995)

C. Haigh, 'The Church of England, the Catholics and the People', in his The Reign of
Elizabeth I (1984)

D. MacCulloch, The Later Reformation in England, 1547-1603 (1990), ch. 8

C. Durston and J . Eales (eds.), The Culture of English Puritanism, 1560-1700 (1986),
chs. 1, 3, 6, 7

J ohn Spurr, English Puritanism, 1603-1689 (1998)

K.V. Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic: Studies in Popular Beliefs in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1971), chs. 1-3

P. Collinson, The Birthpangs of Protestant England: Religious and Cultural Change in
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1988), ch. 5

T. Watt, Cheap Print and Popular Piety, 1550-1640 (1991)

E. Duffy, 'The Godly and the Multitude', The Seventeenth Century , I (1988)

A. Walsham, 'The Fatall Vesper: Providence and Politics in Early Stuart London', Past
and Present, 1994

P. Lake, 'Deeds Against Nature: Cheap Print, Protestantism, and Murder in Early
Seventeenth Century England', in P. Lake and K. Sharpe (eds.), Culture and Politics in
Early Stuart England (1994)

P. Lake, The Antichrists Lewd Hat: Protestants, Papists and Players in Post
Reformation England (2002)

Questions for sources

What was the nature of the puritan critique of the established church? (group 1, item 1)

What was the content of puritan theology? (group 2, items 2, 5, 6)

How was puritan theology understood at a popular level? (group 3, items 3, 4, 6)

What means were used to disseminate the godly message? (all)

Session Four: High Politics. The Origins of the English Civil
War

Essay question: How do you account for the outbreak of civil war in England in 1642?

Core Reading: J . Morrill (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart
Britain (1996), pp. 238-53, 280-92, 346-81

Further Reading

A. Hughes, The Causes of the English Civil War (1991)

C. Russell, The Causes of the English Civil War (1990)

Clive Holmes, Why was Charles I Executed? (2006)

C. Russell, 'The British Problem and the English Civil War', History, 1987

J .S. Morrill, 'The Religious Context of the English Civil War', Transactions of the Royal
Historical Society, 1984

J .S.A. Adamson, 'The Baronial Context of the English Civil War, Transactions of the
Royal Historical Society, 1990

J .S.A. Adamson, The English Context of the British Civil Wars, History Today 1998

J .S.A. Adamson, The Noble Revolt (2007)

Questions for sources

What were the differing understandings of the nature of the relationship between king
and parliament in seventeenth-century England? (group 1, items 1-5)

What were the grievances of parliament against the government of J ames I and Charles
I? What was the blend of ideological principle and material concerns in parliamentary
opposition? (group 2, items 3-8)

Do the texts support the notion that the civil war was a 'war of religion'? (group 3, items
6-8)

Session Five: Popular Politics

Essay question: 'Conservative and backward-looking'. How far does this sum up the
nature of popular politics in the seventeenth century?

Core Reading: J .S. Morrill, 'The Ecology of Allegiance', Journal of British Studies,
1987, reprinted in his The Nature of the English Revolution (1993)

Further Reading

D. Underdown, A Freeborn People: Politics and the Nation in Seventeenth Century
England (1996)

D. Underdown, Revel, Riot, and Rebellion: Popular Politics and Culture in England,
1603-1660 (1985)

I.W. Archer, 'Popular Politics in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries', in P.
Griffiths and M. J enner (eds.). Londinopolis. Essays in the Social and Cultural History of
Early Modern London (2001)

A. Bellany, 'Rayling Rymes and Vaunting Verse: Libellous Politics in Early Stuart
England, 1603-1628', in P. Lake and K. Sharpe (eds.), Culture and Politics in Early
Stuart England (1994)

C.W. Brooks, 'Professions, Ideology and the Middling Sort in the Late Sixteenth and
Early Seventeenth Centuries', in J . Barry and C. Brooks (eds.), The Middling Sort of
People: Culture, Society and Politics in England, 1550-1800 (1995)

P. Lake, 'Anti-Popery: the Structure of a Prejudice' in R. Cust and A. Hughes eds.),
Conflict in Early Stuart England (1989)

J . Morrill and J . Walter, 'Order and Disorder in the English Revolution', in A. Fletcher
and J . Stevenson (eds.), Order and Disorder in Early Modern England (1985)

J . Walter, Crowds and Popular Politics in Early Modern England (2006)

P. Lake and S. Pincus (eds.), The Politics of the Public Sphere in Early Modern England
(2007), introduction

Tim Harris (ed.), The Politics of the Excluded, c. 1500-1850 (2001)

Questions for sources

What is the evidence that Laudianism divided the populace? What were the main popular
objections to the Laudian programme? (group 1, items 1-2)

What role did women play in civil war politics? How great was the threat of social
subversion in the civil war? (group 2, items 3-8)

What were the main planks of the Leveller platform, and how were they supported?
(group 3, item 9)

Why was so much political agitation inspired by religious preoccupations? (all)

Session Six: Crime

Essay question: How do you explain the widespread concern with social regulation in
early modern England?

Core Reading: K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680 (1982), ch. 6

Further Reading

J .A. Sharpe, Crime in Early Modern England, 1550-1750 (1984)

J .A. Sharpe, 'The People and the Law', in B. Reay (ed.), Popular Culture in Seventeenth
Century England (1984)

M. Ingram, 'Reformation of Manners in Early Modern England', in P. Griffiths, A. Fox,
and S. Hindle (eds.), The Experience of Authority in Early Modern England (1997)

M. Spufford, 'Puritanism and Social Control', in A. Fletcher and J . Stevenson (eds.),
Order and Disorder in Early Modern England (1985)

M. Ingram, Church Courts, Sex and Marriage in Early Modern England (1987)

Paul Griffiths, Lost Londons. Change, Crime and Control in the Capital City 1550-1660
(forthcoming 2008)

F. Dabhoiwala, Sex and Societies for Moral Reform, 1688-1800, Journal of British
Studies, 46:2 (2007)

Steve Hindle, On the Parish: The Micropolitics of Poor Relief in Rural England, c. 1550-
1700 (2004)

Questions for sources

Are there signs that Hext exaggerated? Does the concept of 'moral panic' assist? (group 1,
item 1)

What were the main concerns of the church courts in seventeenth century England? How
effective were the church courts as tools of social discipline? (group 2, item 2)

How violent was seventeenth century society? (group 3, item 3)

How great was the gap between popular and elite understandings of the law? Was the law
an instrument of class rule? (all)

Session Seven: Popular Culture

Essay question: How helpful is the distinction between popular and elite culture in
seventeenth century England?

Core Reading: K. Wrightson, English Society, 1580-1680 (1982), chs. 2, 6, 7

Further Reading

T. Harris (ed.), Popular Culture in England, c. 1500-1850 (1995)

B. Reay, Popular Cultures in England, 1550-1750 (1998)

B. Reay (ed.), Popular Culture in Seventeenth Century England (1984)

M. Spufford, 'Puritanism and Social Control', in A. Fletcher and J . Stevenson (eds.),
Order and Disorder in Early Modern England (1985)

M. Spufford, 'First Steps in Literacy: the Reading and Writing Experiences of the
Humblest Seventeenth Century Autobiographers', Social History, 1979

T. Watt, Cheap Print and Popular Piety 1550-1640 (1991)

P. Lake, 'Deeds Against Nature: Cheap Print, Protestantism and Murder in Early
Seventeenth Century England', in P. Lake and K. Sharpe (eds.), Culture and Politics in
Early Stuart England (1994)

P. Lake, The Antichrists Lewd Hat: Protestants, Papists and Players in Post
Reformation England (2002)

A. Walsham, 'The Fatall Vesper: Providence and Politics in Early Stuart London', Past
and Present, 1994

D. Underdown, Revel, Riot and Rebellion: Popular Culture and Politics in England,
1603-1660 (1985)

C. Holmes, 'Popular Culture? Witches, Magistrates and Divines in Early Modern
England', in S.L. Kaplan (ed.), Understanding Popular Culture; Europe from the Middle
Ages to the Nineteenth Century (1984)

Adam Fox, Oral and Literate Culture in England 1500-1700 (2001)

Questions on sources

To what extent did the populace and the elite operate in separate cultural spheres? (group
1, all items)

Why did the nature of popular recreations arouse so much controversy? Is there evidence
of the decline of communal values? (group 2, all items)

What were the functions of civic rituals and festivals? (group 3, all items)

How can we recover the content of popular culture? (all)

Session Eight: Witchcraft

Essay question: How convincing do you find the arguments which have been put
forward to explain witch hunting in seventeenth-century England?

Core Reading: B. Reay, Popular Cultures in England, 1550-1750 (1998), ch. 4

Further Reading

J .A. Sharpe, Instruments of Darkness: Witchcraft in England, 1550-1700 (1996)

K.V. Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic (1971), chs. 14-18

J . Barry, M. Hester, and G. Roberts (eds.), Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe (1996),
chs. 1, 6, 9, 10, 12

C. Holmes, 'Popular Culture? Witches, Magistrates and Divines in Early Modern
England, in S. Kaplan (ed.), Understanding Popular Culture in Early Modern
Europe(1984)

B.P. Levack, The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe (1987)

C. Holmes, 'Women: Witnesses and Witches', Past and Present, 1993

M. Gaskill, Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England (200o)

M. Gaskill, Witchfinders. A Seventeenth Century English Tragedy (2005)

Questions for sources

What do the depositions tell us about the social dynamics of witchcraft accusations?
(group 1, items 1-2)

Is there reason to suppose that popular and elite attitudes over witchcraft diverged (think
about the relationship between diabolism and maleficium)? (group 2, items 1-4)

What were the main arguments against prosecuting witches? (group 3, items 3-4)