England on Edge
Crisis and Revolution 1640-1642
Published on 12. January 2006
Book
Hardback
462 pages
978-0-19-928090-2 (ISBN)
Description
England on Edge deals with the collapse of the government of Charles I, the disintegration of the Church of England, and the accompanying cultural panic that led to civil war. Focused on the years 1640 to 1642, it examines stresses and fractures in social, political, and religious culture, and the emergence of an unrestrained popular press. Hundreds of people not normally seen in historical surveys make appearances here, in a drama much larger than the struggle of king and parliament. Historians commonly assert that royalists and parliamentarians parted company over issues of principle, constitutional scruples, and religious belief, but a more complex picture emerges from the environment of anxiety, mistrust, and fear.
Rather than seeing England's revolutionary transformation as a product of the civil war, as has been common among historians, David Cressy finds the world turned upside down in the two years preceding the outbreak of hostilities. The humbling of Charles I, the erosion of the royal prerogative, and the rise of an executive parliament were central features of the revolutionary drama of 1640-1642. The collapse of the Laudian ascendancy, the splintering of the established church, the rise of radical sectarianism, and the emergence of an Anglican resistance all took place in these two years before the beginnings of bloodshed. The world of public discourse became rapidly energized and expanded, in counterpoint with an exuberantly unfettered press and a deeply traumatized state.
These linked processes, and the disruptive contradictions within them, made this a time of shaking and of prayer. England's elite encountered multiple transgressions, some more imagined than real, involving lay encroachments on the domain of the clergy, lowly intrusions into matters of state, the city clashing with the court, the street with institutions of government, and women undermining the territories of men. The simultaneity, concatenation, and cumulative, compounding effect of these disturbances added to their ferocious intensity, and helped to bring down England's ancien regime. This was the revolution before the Revolution, the revolution that led to civil war.
Rather than seeing England's revolutionary transformation as a product of the civil war, as has been common among historians, David Cressy finds the world turned upside down in the two years preceding the outbreak of hostilities. The humbling of Charles I, the erosion of the royal prerogative, and the rise of an executive parliament were central features of the revolutionary drama of 1640-1642. The collapse of the Laudian ascendancy, the splintering of the established church, the rise of radical sectarianism, and the emergence of an Anglican resistance all took place in these two years before the beginnings of bloodshed. The world of public discourse became rapidly energized and expanded, in counterpoint with an exuberantly unfettered press and a deeply traumatized state.
These linked processes, and the disruptive contradictions within them, made this a time of shaking and of prayer. England's elite encountered multiple transgressions, some more imagined than real, involving lay encroachments on the domain of the clergy, lowly intrusions into matters of state, the city clashing with the court, the street with institutions of government, and women undermining the territories of men. The simultaneity, concatenation, and cumulative, compounding effect of these disturbances added to their ferocious intensity, and helped to bring down England's ancien regime. This was the revolution before the Revolution, the revolution that led to civil war.
Reviews / Votes
...ambitiously comprehensive and pointedly detailed * Matthew McIntyre, Sixteenth Century Journal * Few have trawled the archives with so fine a net and Cressy's account must command respect. All students of the 1640s will want to read his book. * John Spurr, Welsh History Review * [David Cressy] renowned in his many previous publications for his keen eye and capacity for overturning traditional orthodoxies ... brings into play a wealth of previously untapped local sources ... original and thought-provoking. * Roger Richardson, THES * From Laudian rectors brandishing pistols over their altar rails to the Lambeth rioters ... this book vividly illustrates just how widespread the participants were in the shaping of the English Revolution. * Andrew J. Hopper, Journal of Ecclesiastical History * Prof. Cressy has done an enormous amount of work and argues his case well. He has also produced one of the most clearly organised texts this reviewer has ever seen. * Contemporary Review * [a] fluent and fascinating book * Church Times * Cressy is especially good on the origins of revolutionary culture and in showing how libels and satire undermined the social order the Caroline regime laboured so hard to preserve. * D.R. Bisson, Choice * ...a fascinating account of England between 1640 and 1642...What makes Cressy's book so valuable and enjoyable is that it engages with the work of previous historians, provides persuasive answers to historical problems, and raises new questions for others to answer. * Barry Coward, History Today * ...an extraordinarily rich and enticing evocation of a startling moment of English history ... No book has ever evoked the sense of unleashed energy in the years 1640 and 1641 so well ... it is a pleasure to read. * John Morrill, BBC History * Cressy's objective is to describe what actually happened during these two contentious years before England divided in civil war ... He approaches the task with immense determination and thoroughness. He exploits every possible source of evidence intelligently and imaginatively ... His flair for choosing the apposite quotation and the telling anecdote never deserts him, and the result is a vividly compelling picture of a country collapsing into chaos. * David Underdown, H-Albion * An invaluable resource for any reader interested in this period. The picture Cressy presents is not only rich, but is sure to stir further controversy about the nature of England's "troubles". * Sarah Waurechen, Canadian Journal of History * meticulously researched and immensely readable. * Ted Vallance, H-Ideas * Coherent, sophisticated, and thorough [Cressy's] work not only allows a crucial entry into the scholarship he practises but also points to significant implications for early modern scholars in general. * Matthew McIntyre, Sixteenth Century Journal *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
General readers interested in the English Civil War, historians of early modern England.
Illustrations
8 pp halftone plates, 1 map, 1 figure
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
869 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-928090-2 (9780199280902)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
10/2007
Oxford University Press
€84.60
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Sydney Anglo
Machiavelli - The First Century
E-Book
06/2005
1st Edition
OUP
€448.72
Available for download
Person
Born and educated in England, David Cressy has built his career in the United States. He taught British history in the Claremont Colleges in California, then at California State University, Long Beach, before moving to Ohio State University in 1998. He has earned major fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Huntington Library. He has made frequent visits to England as an Associate of Clare Hall, Cambridge, Visiting Fellow at Magdalen and St Catherine's Colleges, Oxford, and as an Overseas Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge.
Content
PART I: CAROLINE DISTEMPERS ; 1. Crisis and Revolution ; 2. The Pulse of the Kingdom: Distempers of the Times ; 3. Life and Death amidst Distraction and Fears ; 4. Insolencies of the Army: Soldiers and Civilians 1640-1642 ; 5. The People's Fury, the Lambeth Disturbances, and the Insurrection of May 1640 ; PART II: THE GREAT AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH ; 6. The Laudian Ascendancy ; 7. Laudian Authority Undermined ; 8. Babylon is Fallen ; 9. Parish Turmoils ; 10. Swarms of Sectaries ; 11. Conservative Reactions: The Laudians Fight Back ; PART III: THE NATIONAL CONVERSATION ; 12. The Press Overpressed ; 13. News of High Distractions ; 14. Discourse, Opinion, and the Making of a Revolutionary Culture ; 15. Libels, Satire, and Derison ; 16. The Social Order Threatened ; PART IV: THE ONSET OF CIVIL WAR ; 17. Tumults and Commotions ; 18. Death's Harbinger: The Drift to Civil War ; Postscript: Why the English Revolution Matters ; Index