The Pursuit of Stability: Social Relations in Elizabethan London

by Ian W. Archer

• ISBN13: 9780521522168
• ISBN10: 0521522161
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-10-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This work engages in the historical debate about the reasons for London’s freedom from serious unrest in the later sixteenth century, when the city’s rulers faced mounting problems caused by rapid population growth, spiralling prices, impoverishment and crime. One key to the city’s stability was that Londoners were locked into a matrix of overlapping communities, the livery companies, wards and parishes, all of which created claims on their loyalties and gave them a framework within which redress of grievances could be pursued. The highly developed structures of government in the capital also enjoyed considerable success in mobilising resources for poor relief, while the authorities so impotent against it, as the traditional accounts would suggest. This is the first effort at a holistic approach to interpreting early modern London society, based on the full range of London sources.

Table of Contents

List of figures

List of tables

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

1. Introduction: the problem of order

2. The framework of social relations: the city elite

3. The framework of social relations: local government, neighbourhood, and community

4. The framework of social relations: the livery companies

5. Social policy

6. Crime and society

7. Conclusion

Bibliography

Index.