State Formation in Early Modern England, c.1550–1700

by Michael J. Braddick

• ISBN13: 9780521789554
• ISBN10: 0521789559
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-12-18
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book examines the development of the English state during the long seventeenth century, emphasising the impersonal forces which shape the uses of political power, rather than the purposeful actions of individuals or groups. It is a study of state formation rather than of state building. The author's approach does not however rule out the possibility of discerning patterns in the development of the state, and a coherent account emerges which offers some new answers to relatively well-established questions. In particular, it is argued that the development of the state in this period was shaped in important ways by social interests - particularly those of class, gender and age. It is also argued that this period saw significant changes in the form and functioning of the state which were, in some sense, modernising. The book therefore offers a narrative of the development of the state in the aftermath of revisionism.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vii
Abbreviations and conventions	ix
General Introduction	1	(8)
PART I STATE FORMATION IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND
Introduction	9	(2)
The embodiment of the state	11	(36)
The uses of political power in early modern England	47	(56)
Conclusion	96	(5)
PART II THE PATRIARCHAL STATE
Introduction	101	(2)
Social order: poverty, dearth and disease	103	(33)
The courts and social order	136	(44)
Conclusion	172	(5)
PART III THE FISCAL - MILITARY STATE
Introduction	177	(3)
The state and military mobilisation	180	(53)
The financing of the state	233	(58)
Conclusion	281	(6)
PART IV THE CONFESSIONAL STATE
Introduction	287	(4)
The claims of the confessional state: local realities	291	(49)
Conclusion	334	(3)
PART V THE DYNASTIC STATE
Introduction	337	(3)
Elite formation and state formation in England, Wales and Scotland	340	(39)
London's provinces: state formation in the English-speaking Atlantic world	379	(48)
Conclusion	420	(7)
Conclusion: actions without design, patterns without blueprints	427	(11)
Index	438