Rebellion, popular protest and the social order in early modern England

Book Revieib.3

319 hlodern England. cd. Paul Slack

Rebellion. Popular Protest and the Social Order in Earl! (Past

and Present

Publications)

(Cambridge

Universit)

Press.

1984).

vi + 339pp..

fl9.50.

j39.50. Studies and

of popular

Edward

criminal

elements

controlled,

has

orderI>:

referred

‘householders

were

involv,ed

those

rationale

forms

authorities paternalistic pressing

It operated

It is helpful early

the given

order

gain

manner.

and

English

Civil

gentrv.

The

ideology

common

within

t\pe.

notions

sects and radicals Gerrard

far-reaching

principal

forms.

and the Diggers, way.

Can

to civil

of the English

Paul Slack’s

do cover

throughout

Social vvork

collection

of chapters

which

appeared

introduction

Slack

Rebellion),

Tudor

and

Rogers

has ensured

Like

this

The

Riots

contributions

fear

ar7ri

attempt

Present

collections.

by Slack

to draw the

classics

the

dearth

Clubmen.

have been excluded either

fields,

and Arm!

in the earl) eighteenth

and those by Robin

in their

for ttte

(the Pilgrimage

of events,

protest

andrhc

pioneering

is vvorth purchasing

in a variety

those

attitudes

PopulurProresr

of Catholics.

and anti-Whiz

the

for the

out that

since Thompson’s

are all first-rate

could now be considered that vital articles

He apologises of popular

of the Pnsr

of youth

two been

in the

demonstrate

but points

casts his net wide to include rebellion period,

it has

Revolution!

issues.

(the book

the

in a more these

cuttingedge

period

of ‘their’

of the

(as with

how’? For

that Rebellion.

most

introduction

the role Stuart

in the 16405, the Sacheverell and charivaris.

and Nicholas exercise

in an excellent

Kett’s the

journal.

of the

but occasionall>

between

conservatism

decade’. It is fitting

that

so.

the Revolution.

the ‘social

the

the dominant

mostly

the popular

during

the pages of Pas/ ard Presrnr,

and index alone). in

discontent century.

in

with

also with the Levellers)

does not really cohere. despite a valiant

together

and

authority

from

movements

of society,

on some but not all ofthrse with

during

th~comIttttnitYag3in\t

to break

provided riots

often

set by the hegemony

the second‘? If

und that

and

ovvn hands:

in England

is the relationship

grievances

deal directly

that revolutionary

themes

of Grace

touches

it tend to emphasise

Order is culled first

1640s.

their

in a piecemeal fashion,

people to the great issues

which

hovvever, this volume main

traditional

into

quo.

above) was traditionalist.

horizons

and perhaps

own

but never

fen drainers

the Clubrnen

restructuring

is interesting

convert

war in the early

indifference paucity

What

the first

argued-oppositely-that drift

of a radical

protest

managed

of the 1640s and 1650s)

Winstanley

coherent,

tendenc)-.

that the

of their

price’ for grain,

protecting

with

has

of the monarch.

(discussed

the ideological

a minority

demanded

into

a ‘just

backing

rights. here

rights

in defence of the status

setting

form

was a

the most

rebellious.

take matters

or moral

are links

Wars-vvorkinp

to articulate

English (with

innovation-there

other

sometimes

of two main t)pcs of popular

One. the most

There

riots,

and speculators.

might

sometimes

the authority

Nor

vvhat Thompson

period,

of things.

hoarders

did not act. rioters

but

than people.

up to the standards

within

acting. as we have seen. in defence ofcustornnrv outsiders

modern

‘lived

vvas riotous,

in terms

period.

it)

than one

and traditional

of life:

ot was

humble

and anti-improvement

of protest

to act against

to think

modern

put

(more

of ideology.

the old way

Food

in history

its actions rather

Rude

‘mobs’

it comprised

bereft

form

that they acted with

about

‘crowd’

defence ofcustom

durin g the early has

but they did so in a restrained

The

protest):

of protest

actions:

which threatened

protest

If the masistratc

claiming

and plunder. quality

of George

work

of uncontrolled

its target was property

of the poor’.

This

to think

popular

forms

Wrightson

rhetoric‘.

of

of their

forces

the magistrate

enclosers.

most

economy

Keith

revolutionary.

theatre

in the various

of popular

(as

of blood

there was a ritualistic

behind

the ‘moral

common

is it possible

and citizens’;

in the face of the market called

longer

to the

respectable coherent

have come a long way since the earl!

No

engaged in search

almost

historian

protest

Thompson.

Clifton

but the natureofthe

because (as in at least one

casf)

the author

usnts

to use them c’lxu

righteenth

crnturh--a

sconumb’

;1rticle

I[

moralIt>.

thsmss

employed

and craftsmen.

populur

to

against in riot

Slack,

although

tinall)

the

rupture.

pr,lblem

halfofthe

those

of

and

protest

who breached community riots):

and rebellion: rrllgion

protest

content

ot’ popular

1s probabl)

in

into

the ublqulty

ot

‘the conser\,ltIsm

‘truditi,~nalism’

role

converting

with

the ritu,,lism

and rlyhternth-crntur!

participants

quote

thf

the rsja!j:

used tradItionall>

and

historical

from

In sebrnteenth-

charactrrisation:

lsgitlrnising

the:). c‘o\cr the i
~nac~oLlntabl).~hornpson‘j‘mor~~l

despltt

ColleCtion.

cmsrge

the main

aspirations’.

accurate

here or bec;lue cut-ofi’polnt.

a ~tlrnuiat~ry

oi chari\arls.

ux

artls;lns

is

Common

(the repertoire

arbitrary

does not appear.

Ke~.erth:lesj, parnrn
rather

sharpening

rebellion

the

and.

of

;I more Issues.

e\en.

into

re\.olution.

of Alesander Nequam 1157-1217,

The Schools and the Cloister. l‘hc Life and Writings rd.

Hunt.

and rev.

It is with

considerable

its IImitations outline book

Margaret

known

wearchers partI>

thcbis presented

to scholars

Library,

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in the Bodlwn,

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rexarch.

book:

of such

communty

R.W.

n.p.

scr\ ice he placed his t‘normous

Arts

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165pp..

by the late R. W. Hunt.

it with notes and slips

Lrith

bctwwn Oxford

role

\bhy it has been thought

As rc\ealcd by Dr.

+

an author

and works

the world

Hunt’s

xiii

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Oxford.

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que>tlon

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on the

to try to re,olve

of his knov.Iedgc

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classics. Hunt drath. popular modern \
tried also to trace some His

writings because

tvorks. fame

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on grammar methods

His

in which

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biblical

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Ssctions.

commentaries entirely

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to England:

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