Introduction
-
John Walter
Abstract
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book includes the studies that arose from a larger and continuing project. Each was designed to support an argument for the importance of contextualising crowd actions. The book focuses on social and economic conflicts in early modern England. A consistent theme running through the author's work discussed in the book is reflected in the essays that follow. The theme is the crowd actions were necessarily political and need to be understood in the context of a popular political culture. The book concludes by offering early and later statements of the author's understanding of the context for the exercise of a popular agency provided by the deep structures of the English state.
Abstract
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book includes the studies that arose from a larger and continuing project. Each was designed to support an argument for the importance of contextualising crowd actions. The book focuses on social and economic conflicts in early modern England. A consistent theme running through the author's work discussed in the book is reflected in the essays that follow. The theme is the crowd actions were necessarily political and need to be understood in the context of a popular political culture. The book concludes by offering early and later statements of the author's understanding of the context for the exercise of a popular agency provided by the deep structures of the English state.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Preface ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- List of abbreviations xiii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Crown and crowd 14
- 2 Grain riots and popular attitudes to the law 27
- 3 The geography of food riots, 1585–1649 67
- 4 A ‘rising of the people’? 73
- 5 The social economy of dearth in early modern England 124
- 6 The impact of the English Civil War on society 181
- 7 Public transcripts, popular agency and the politics of subsistence in early modern England 196
- Index 223
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Preface ix
- Acknowledgements xi
- List of abbreviations xiii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Crown and crowd 14
- 2 Grain riots and popular attitudes to the law 27
- 3 The geography of food riots, 1585–1649 67
- 4 A ‘rising of the people’? 73
- 5 The social economy of dearth in early modern England 124
- 6 The impact of the English Civil War on society 181
- 7 Public transcripts, popular agency and the politics of subsistence in early modern England 196
- Index 223
