Early Modern England 1485-1714: A Narrative History (2 page)

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bucholz, R. O., 1958–Early modern England, 1485–1714: a narrative history / Robert Bucholz and Newton Key. – 2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4051-6275-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Great Britain–History– Stuarts, 1603–1714.

2. Great Britain–History–Tudors, 1485–1603.

3. England–Civilization. I. Key, Newton. II. Title.

DA300.B83 2009

942.05–dc22

2008030352

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

1 2009

Plates

1
Diagram of an English manor

2
Henry VII,
painted terracotta bust, by Pietro Torrigiano

3
Henry VIII,
after Hans Holbein the Younger

4
Diagram of the interior of a church before and after the Reformation

5
Mary I,
by Moro

6
J. Foxe,
Acts and Monuments
title-page, 1641 edition

7
Elizabeth I
(The Ditchley Portrait), by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, ca. 1592

8
First Encounter Between the English and Spanish Fleets, from J. Pine,
The Tapestry Hangings of the House of Lords Representing the Several Engagements Between the English and Spanish Fleets, 1739

9
Hatfield House, south prospect, by Thomas Sadler, 1700

10
Tudor farmhouse at Ystradfaelog, Llanwnnog, Montgomeryshire (photo and groundplan)

11
Visscher’s panorama of London, 1616 (detail)

12
A view of Westminster, by Hollar

13
James I,
by van Somer

14
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
, by William Larkin

15
Charles I,
by Van Dyck

16
The execution of Charles I

17
Oliver Cromwell,
by Robert Walker, 1649

18
The entrance of Charles II at the Restoration, 1660

19
Charles II as
Patron of the Royal Society
, by Laroon

20
James II,
by unknown artist

21
Mary of Modena in Childbed
, Italian engraving

22
Presentation of the Crown to William III and Mary II,
by R. de Hooge after C. Allard

23
Queen Anne
, by Edmund Lilly

24
The battle of Blenheim

25
Fighting in a coffee-house after the trial of Dr. Sacheverell

26
Castle Howard, engraving

Maps

1
The British Isles (physical) today

2
The counties of England and Wales before 1972

3
Towns and trade

4
The Wars of the Roses, 1455–85

5
Southern England and western France during the later Middle Ages

6
Europe ca. 1560

7
Early modern Ireland

8
Spanish possessions in Europe and the Americas

9
War in Europe, 1585–1604

10
London ca.1600

11
The Bishops’ Wars and Civil Wars, 1637–60

12
Western Europe in the age of Louis XIV

13
The War of the Spanish Succession, 1702–14

14
The Atlantic world after the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713

Preface to the Second Edition

The appearance of a second edition of
Early Modern England
is most welcome to its authors, not least because it allows them to correct the errors which inevitably crept into the first. The opportunity of a “do-over” is also a chance to bring the narrative up to date by incorporating exciting new material on the period which has come out since the first edition, not to mention older material which we had neglected previously. (The companion volume,
Sources and Debates,
has also been extensively revised in its 2nd edition.) In particular, the authors have attempted to take into account recent Tudor historiography and strengthen those sections which address Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. We have also become more conscious of the continental and Atlantic dimensions of this story and have adjusted accordingly. We have added a section on the historiography of women and gender, modifying our presentation of women’s lives in light of a more nuanced history of gender, which sees the story of men and women as more intermingled, and which gives early modern women agency rather than pities them as perennial victims.

At the same time, your faithful authors have resisted the temptation to make of this story something that it is not: a history of the British Isles, the Atlantic world, of Europe as a whole, or even a transnational story of a very mobile people. We are deeply aware and appreciative of new historiographical currents which view England and the English within each of these four contexts. We have made a conscious effort to take account of those contexts, and to strengthen them for this edition. But we have not attempted to tell a trans-British Isles, Atlantic, Britain- in-Europe, or migrants story precisely because these are, in fact, many stories, the narrative threads of which inevitably become tangled and broken if contained within a single book. Indeed, Welsh and Irish historians have recently reacted with some skepticism to an all-embracing “three kingdoms” British Isles approach. Thus, we stand by our initial position that an English narrative retains a coherence that such wider perspectives lack; and that that narrative is of particular importance for the Western and Anglophone world. This last conviction has only been strengthened by the experience of the last few years, which have seen serious debates on our side of the Atlantic over the rights of
habeas corpus
and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, the parliamentary power of the purse, the role of religion in public life, and whether or not the ruler can declare himself above the law in a time of national emergency. These were themes well known to early modern English men and women. They remain utterly – even alarmingly – relevant to their political, social, and cultural heirs on both sides of the Atlantic.

Which brings us to a final word about the audience for this book. When we first undertook to write it, we set out self-consciously to provide a volume which would tell England’s story to our fellow countrymen and women in ways that would be most accessible to them. That implied a willingness to explain what an expert or a native Briton might take for granted; and to do so in a language accessible to the twenty-first-century student. Since its initial publication,
Early Modern England
has had some success on both sides of the Atlantic, not least, it turns out, because, as the early modern period recedes from secondary training in History in Great Britain, the twenty-first-century British student cannot be assumed any longer to have become familiar with – or jaded by – this story. And so, as we have undertaken this revision, we have tried to become more sensitive to its potential British, as well as Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and other Anglophone readers, while retaining the peculiar charms of the American vernacular. It is in the spirit of transatlantic and global understanding and cooperation that we welcome all our readers from the Anglophone world to a story which forms the bedrock of their shared heritage.

Robert Bucholz
Newton Key
[email protected]

Preface to the First Edition

The authors of this book recall, quite vividly, their first exposure to English history. If you are like us, you first came to this subject because contemporary elite and popular culture are full of references to it. Perhaps your imagination has been captured by a classic play or novel set in the English past
(Richard III,
A
Man for All Seasons, Journal of the Plague Year, Lorna Doone),
or by some Hollywood epic which uses English history as its frame
(Braveheart, Elizabeth, Shakespeare in Love
,
Restoration
,
The Patriot
). Perhaps you have traveled in England, or can trace your roots to an English family tree (or to ancestors whose relationship to the English was less than happy). Perhaps you have sensed – rightly – that poets and playwrights, Hollywood and tour books have not given you the whole story. Perhaps you want to know more.

In writing this book, we have tried to recall what we knew and what we did not know about England when we first began to study it as undergraduates. We have also tried to use what we have learned over the years from teaching its history to (mostly) our fellow North Americans in a variety of institutions – Ivy League and extension; state and private; secular and sectarian. Thus, we have tried to explain concepts that might be quite familiar to a native of England, and have become familiar to us, but which may, at first, make little sense to you. To help you make your way through early modern England we have begun with a description of the country as it existed in 1485, and included several maps of it and its neighbors. We have highlighted arcane contemporary words and historical terminology in bold on their first use, and tried to explain their meaning in a Glossary. We urge you to use these as you would use maps and language phrase books to negotiate any foreign land. When we introduce for the first time a native of early modern England, we give his or her birth and death dates, where known. In the case of kings and queens, we also give the years they reigned. We do this because knowing when someone came of age (or, if he was a Tudor politician, whether or not he managed to survive Henry VIII!) should give you a better idea of what events and ideas might have shaped his or her motivations, decisions, and destiny.