2 Mobilisation, escalation and sexual polemic, 1642–46
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Samuel Fullerton
Abstract
This chapter examines the expansion of explicit sexual politics into formal regime print polemic during the first civil war period of 1642–46. Building on the robust historiography of military mobilisation, it argues that partisan polemicists in London and Oxford alike increasingly turned to sexual satire in their appeals for public support from the kingdom as the civil war wore on. By examining the role of serial newsbooks and personal partisan disputes, moreover, the chapter demonstrates that competing processes of mobilisation only intensified the vitriol of partisan language. As a result, both parliamentarians (by focusing more closely than ever before on royal sexuality, especially in The Kings cabinet opened (1645)) and royalists (by reimagining the parliamentarian rebellion as the monstrous offspring of a diabolical conjunction) developed new porno-political arguments that would pay off enormously during the debates that erupted around the regicide of January 1649.
Abstract
This chapter examines the expansion of explicit sexual politics into formal regime print polemic during the first civil war period of 1642–46. Building on the robust historiography of military mobilisation, it argues that partisan polemicists in London and Oxford alike increasingly turned to sexual satire in their appeals for public support from the kingdom as the civil war wore on. By examining the role of serial newsbooks and personal partisan disputes, moreover, the chapter demonstrates that competing processes of mobilisation only intensified the vitriol of partisan language. As a result, both parliamentarians (by focusing more closely than ever before on royal sexuality, especially in The Kings cabinet opened (1645)) and royalists (by reimagining the parliamentarian rebellion as the monstrous offspring of a diabolical conjunction) developed new porno-political arguments that would pay off enormously during the debates that erupted around the regicide of January 1649.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of abbreviations ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 Sexual satire and partisan identity, 1637–42 29
- 2 Mobilisation, escalation and sexual polemic, 1642–46 69
- 3 Toleration and its discontents, 1646–48 106
- 4 The porno-politics of regicide, 1648–51 147
- 5 Contesting reformation, 1649–53 187
- 6 Discipline and debauchery, 1654–59 226
- 7 The Restoration and beyond 265
- Conclusion 279
- Bibliography of archival sources 289
- Index 296
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vi
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of abbreviations ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 Sexual satire and partisan identity, 1637–42 29
- 2 Mobilisation, escalation and sexual polemic, 1642–46 69
- 3 Toleration and its discontents, 1646–48 106
- 4 The porno-politics of regicide, 1648–51 147
- 5 Contesting reformation, 1649–53 187
- 6 Discipline and debauchery, 1654–59 226
- 7 The Restoration and beyond 265
- Conclusion 279
- Bibliography of archival sources 289
- Index 296
