The Reformation and the Towns in England Politics and Political Culture, c. 1540-1640

by Tittler, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780198207184
• ISBN10: 0198207182
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-08-13
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

This is an important new analysis of the secular impact of the Reformation on English towns. It shows how the transfer of property, coupled with new statutory responsibilities and the destruction of a doctrine-based political culture, enabled many towns to extend their holdings and increase their institutional authority.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xi
Part I. Introduction	1	(56)
1. English Towns in the Age of the Reformation	3	(20)
2. The Ethos of Community on the Eve of Reformation	23	(20)
3. Traditional Perspectives and New Approaches	43	(14)
Part II. Material Implications of the Reformation	57	(80)
4. Dissolution and the Strategies of Acquisition	59	(15)
5. The Problem of Enabling Authority	74	(29)
6. Totting Up: Local Resources after the Dissolutions	103	(34)
Part III. Politics and Authority	137	(108)
7. Introduction	139	(10)
8. The Drive for Local Autonomy, c.1540S-1560S	149	(33)
9. The Triumph of Oligarchy	182	(28)
10. Oligarchic Rule	210	(35)
Part IV. Political Culture in the Post-Reformation Town	245	(90)
11. Introduction	247	(7)
12. Political Culture and the Built Environment	254	(16)
13. Oligarchic Rule and the Civic Memory	270	(35)
14. The Culture of Order and Deference	305	(30)
Conclusion	335	(8)
Tables	343	(12)
I. Incorporation of English and Welsh Boroughs, 1485-1640	345	(3)
II. Incorporation and Landholding, 1540-1560	348	(2)
III. Towns Bringing Particulars for Grants of Dissolved Lands	350	(1)
IV. Dissolved Lands Acquired by the City of Gloucester by the Early Seventeenth Century	351	(1)
V. Dissolved Lands Granted for the (Re)Founding of Town Schools	352	(2)
VI. Typical Mayoral Stipends, c. 1540-1640	354	(1)
Bibliography	355	(28)
Index	383