The ideological underpinnings of early modern theories of contagion are dissected in this volume by an integrated team of literary scholars, cultural historians, historians of medicine and art historians. Even today, the spread of disease inspires moralizing discourse and the ostracism of groups thought responsible for contagion; the fear of illness and the desire to make sense of it are demonstrated in the current preoccupation with HIV, SARS, 'mad cow' disease, West Nile virus and avian flu, to cite but a few contemporary examples. Imagining Contagion in Early Modern Europe explores the nature of understanding when humanity is faced with threats to its well-being, if not to its very survival.

The House of Lords presented the stage on which some of the critical confrontations in English and British constitutional and political history were played out in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Published for the History of Parliament Trust. Condemned as 'useless and dangerous', the House of Lords was abolished in the revolution of 1649, shortly after the execution of King Charles I. Reinstated, along with the monarchy, at the Restoration of 1660, the House of Lords vigorously renewed its involvement in the political life of the nation. This highly illustrated book presents the first results from the research undertaken by the History of Parliament Trust on the peers and bishops between the Restoration and the accession of George I. It shows them as politicians at Westminster; as members of an elite intensely conscious of their honour and status; as a class apart, always devising new schemes - successful and unsuccessful - to increase their wealth and 'interest'; and as local grandees, to whom local society looked for leadership and protection. From the proud duke of Somerset to the beggarly Lord Mohun, from the devious earl of Oxford to the disgruntled Lord Lucas, the material here presents initial insights into the nature of the Restoration House of Lords and the men who formed it, showing them in their best moments, when they vigorously defended the law and the constitution, and in their worst, as they obsessively concerned themselves with honour and precedence and indefatigably pursued private interests. RUTH PALEY is editor, and BEVERLY ADAMS, ROBIN EAGLES and CHARLES LITTLETON are senior research fellows, for the House of Lords, 1660-1832 section of The History of Parliament. PAUL SEAWARD is director of The History of Parliament.

A study of the life and career of one of Scotland's leading magnates during a turbulent period. George Keith, fifth Earl Marischal, is an outstanding example of long-term successful Protestant Lordship in the reign of James VI. The founder of Marischal College in Aberdeen and the towns of Peterhead and Stonehaven, reputed tobe the richest earl in Scotland, Marischal and his kindred were witness to a Scotland reeling from the consequences of the Protestant Reformation and coming to terms with their ambitious new king, who would be whisked away to England in 1603. This book explores Marischal's political struggles in the north east and at court, and his strategies in managing the kindred throughout these storms. He was economically active in estate improvement, shippingand finance, and was prominent in regional activities such as feuding and upholding local justice. An exploration of the Keiths' interaction with the Protestant Kirk redresses the notion of the "Conservative North East" of Scotland, but also reveals the conflict between earthly lordship and godly reform. Marischal, King James' "Little Fat Pork", is thus a perfect window into noble society, religion and politics in Jacobean Scotland. Dr MILES KERR-PETERSON is an affiliate in Scottish History at the University of Glasgow.

This is a study of political word use in 17th-century England. A theoretical introduction re-characterizes intellectual history through language theory. Part one outlines the fugitive nature of 17th-century political discourse and the pressures making its vocabulary indiscriminate and susceptible to anachronistic reconstruction. Part two specifically charts the changing relationships between the words "subject", "citizen", "resistance" and "rebellion". Finally, attention is turned to the historian's own vocabulary and its misleading imposition on alien patterns of word use.

An engaging and comprehensive study of property-owning women in the colony of Tidewater, VA during the 16th century. It examines the social restrictions on women's behaviour and speech, opportunities and difficulties these women encountered in the legal system, the economic and discretionary authority they enjoyed, the roles they played in the family business, their roles in the later, Trans-Atlantic trading framework, and the imperial context within which these colonial women lived, making this a welcome addition to both colonial and women's history historians.

John Davenport, who cofounded the colony of New Haven, has been neglected in studies that view early New England primarily from a Massachusetts viewpoint. Francis J. Bremer restores the clergyman to importance by examining Davenport's crucial role as an advocate for religious reform in England and the Netherlands before his emigration, his engagement with an international community of scholars and clergy, and his significant contributions to colonial America. Bremer shows that he was in many ways a remarkably progressive leader for his time, with a strong commitment to education for both women and men, a vibrant interest in new science, and a dedication to upholding democratic principles in churches at a time when many other Puritan clergymen were emphasizing the power of their office above all else. Bremer's enlightening and accessible biography of an important figure in New England history provides a unique perspective on the seventeenth-century transatlantic Puritan movement.

Series Information:
Lancaster Pamphlets

Catholic polemical works, and their portrayal of Protestants in print in particular, are the central focus of this work. In contrast with Germany, French Catholics used printing effectively and agressively to promote the Catholic cause. In seeking to explain why France remained a Catholic country, the French Catholic response must be taken into account. Rather than confront the Reformation on its own terms, the Catholic reaction concentrated on discrediting the Protestant cause in the eyes of the Catholic majority. This book aims to contribute to the ongoing debate over the nature of the French Wars of Religion, to explain why they were so violent and why they engaged the loyalities of such a large portion of the population. This study also provides an example of the successful defence of catholicism developed independently and in advance of Tridentine reform which is of wider significance for the history of the Reformation in Europe.

When the Spanish invaded the Inca empire in 1532, the cult of the ancestors was an essential feature of pre-Columbian religion throughout the Andes. The dead influenced politics, protected the living, symbolized the past, and legitimized claims over the land their descendants occupied, while the living honored the presence of the dead in numerous aspects of daily life. A central purpose of the Spanish missionary endeavor was to suppress the Andean cult of the ancestors and force the indigenous people to adopt their Catholic, legal, and cultural views concerning death. In her book, Gabriela Ramos reveals the extent to which Christianizing death was essential for the conversion of the indigenous population to Catholicism. Ramos argues that understanding the relation between death and conversion in the Andes involves not only considering the obvious attempts to destroy the cult of the dead, but also investigating a range of policies and strategies whose application demanded continuous negotiation between Spaniards and Andeans. Drawing from historical, archaeological, and anthropological research and a wealth of original archival materials, especially the last wills and testaments of indigenous Andeans, Ramos looks at the Christianization of death as it affected the lives of inhabitants of two principal cities of the Peruvian viceroyalty: Lima, the new capital founded on the Pacific coast by the Spanish, and Cuzco, the old capital of the Incas in the Andean highlands. Her study of the wills in particular demonstrates the strategies that Andeans devised to submit to Spanish law and Christian doctrine, preserve bonds of kinship, and cement their place in colonial society.

Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642 something happened which completely revolutionized Western civilization. Painting, sculpture and architecture would all visibly change in a striking fashion. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely different aspect. Sciences would be born - or emerge in an entirely new guise. In this sweeping 400-year history, Paul Strathern reveals how, and why, these new ideas which formed the Renaissance began, and flourished, in the city of Florence. Just as central and northern Germany gave birth to the Reformation, Britain was a driver of the Industrial Revolution and Silicon Valley shaped the digital age, so too, Strathern argues, did Florence play a similarly unique and transformative role in the Renaissance. While vividly bringing to life the city and a vast cast of characters - including Dante, Botticelli, Machiavelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Galileo - Strathern shows how these great Florentines forever altered Europe and the Western world.

This book investigates a puzzling and neglected phenomenon - the rise of English Arminianism during the decade of puritan rule. Throughout the 1650s, numerous publications, from scholarly folios to popular pamphlets, attacked the doctrinal commitments of Reformed Orthodoxy. This anti-Calvinist onslaught came from different directions: episcopalian royalists (Henry Hammond, Herbert Thorndike, Peter Heylyn), radical puritan defenders of the regicide (John Goodwin and John Milton), and sectarian Quakers and General Baptists. Unprecedented rejection of Calvinist soteriology was often coupled with increased engagement with Catholic, Lutheran and Remonstrant alternatives. As a result, sophisticated Arminian publications emerged on a scale that far exceeded the Laudian era. Cromwellian England therefore witnessed an episode of religious debate that significantly altered the doctrinal consensus of the Church of England for the remainder of the seventeenth century. The book will appeal to historians interested in the contested nature of 'Anglicanism' and theologians interested in Protestant debates regarding sovereignty and free will. Part One is a work of religious history, which charts the rise of English Arminianism across different ecclesial camps - episcopal, puritan and sectarian. These chapters not only introduce the main protagonists but also highlight a surprising range of distinctly English Arminian formulations. Part Two is a work of historical theology, which traces the detailed doctrinal formulations of two prominent divines - the puritan John Goodwin and the episcopalian Henry Hammond. Their Arminian theologies are set in the context of the Western theological tradition and the soteriological debates, that followed the Synod of Dort. The book therefore integrates historical and theological enquiry to offer a new perspective on the crisis of 'Calvinism' in post-Reformation England.

An engaging and comprehensive study of property-owning women in the colony of Tidewater, VA during the 16th century. It examines the social restrictions on women's behaviour and speech, opportunities and difficulties these women encountered in the legal system, the economic and discretionary authority they enjoyed, the roles they played in the family business, their roles in the later, Trans-Atlantic trading framework, and the imperial context within which these colonial women lived, making this a welcome addition to both colonial and women's history historians.

It is axiomatic that English people came to understand their places in society differently by the late seventeenth century. This collection explores how that happened by exploring how membership in communities was defined, and how individuals and corporate groups acted out their understanding of their places in society. Keith Wrightson's powerful exploration of how concepts of neighborliness evolved as the economy changed is joined with Marjorie K. McIntosh's work on changing identity politics in market towns. The confusions over identity and community inherent in border towns are taken up by K.J. Kesselring, while David Dean examines the mnemonic devices used in the Elizabethan Lottery to understand how people saw their communities. The overlapping worlds of London, Court and country are portrayed by Alexandra Johnston and Joseph Ward, while Catherine Patterson looks at the rhetoric of urban magistracy. The complexity of London's communities is explored by Shannon McSheffrey in her work on the liminal place of the late medieval clergy and sexual morality; by Ian Archer in his portrait of the charity of London widows; and by Paul Griffiths in a concluding chapter on the rhetorics of London's civil and religious identity, as seen in the discussions of growth that swirled around the building of Bridewell Hospital.

This book explores the life, thought and political commitments of the free-thinker John Toland (1670-1722). Studying both his private archive and published works, it illustrates how Toland moved in both subversive and elite political circles in England and abroad. It explores the connections between his republican political thought and his irreligious belief about Christian doctrine, the ecclesiastical establishment and divine revelation, arguing that far from being a marginal and insignificant figure, Toland counted queens, princes and government ministers as his friends and political associates. In particular his intimate relationship with the Electress Sophia of Hanover saw him act as a court philosopher, but also as a powerful publicist for the Hanoverian succession. The book argues that Toland shaped the republican tradition after the Glorious Revolution into a practical and politically viable programme, focused not on destroying the monarchy, but on reforming public religion and the Church of England. The book also examines how Toland used his social intimacy with a wide circle of men and women (ranging from Prince Eugene of Savoy to Robert Harley) to distribute his ideas in private. It explores the connections between Toland's erudition and print culture, arguing that his intellectual project was aimed at compromising the authority of Christian 'knowledge' as much as the political power of the Church. Overall the book illustrates how Toland's ideas and influence impacted upon English political life between the 1690s and the 1720s. It forms an excellent study on a fascinating character in early modern history, scholars and enthusiasts of the period will find it extremely valuable.

This path-breaking study explores the diverse and varied meanings of manhood in early modern England and their complex, and often contested, relationship with patriarchal principles. Using social, political and medical commentary, alongside evidence of social practice derived from court records, Dr Shepard argues that patriarchal ideology contained numerous contradictions, and that, while males were its primary beneficiaries, it was undermined and opposed by men as well as women.

After he explored the Great Lakes and the entire Mississippi, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was murdered by his own men when he led them on a disastrous mission to Texas. But the vast land he claimed for France in 1682 could have become--had it not been for a few twists of history--a French-speaking empire extending more than a thousand miles beyond Quebec. This alternative North America would have been Catholic in religion and granted Native peoples a prominent role. Philip Marchand probes the intriguingly flawed character of La Salle and recounts the astonishing history of the Jesuit missionaries, coureurs de bois, fur traders, and soldiers who followed on his heels, and of the Indian nations with whom they came into contact. He also reports on the ways in which the drama of this ghost empire continues to be played out in battle reenactments and in parish churches and wayside restaurants from Montreal to Venice, Louisiana. Throughout the book, Marchand draws on memories of his own Catholic childhood in Massachusetts to interpret the lingering attitudes, fears, hopes, and iconography of a people who, more deeply than most, feel the burdens and the ironies of history.

An eminent scholar of Russian history here presents the most informative, balanced, and up-to-date short study of Catherine the Great and her reign. This edition includes a new preface dealing with recently discovered sources and revised interpretations of the period. Praise for the earlier edition: "A panoramic view of Russia's social, political, economic, and cultural development and of its emergence as a formidable power in the international arena during the thirty-four years of [Catherine's] reign."-Anthony Cross, New York Times Book Review "De Madariaga's book will be the standard and an essential guide for all students and scholars of Russian and European history of the second half of the eighteenth century."-Marc Raeff, Journal of Modern History

This book explores the preaching and printing of sermons by royalists during the English Revolution. While scholars have long recognised the central role played by preachers in driving forward the parliamentarian war-effort, the use of the pulpit by the king's supporters has rarely been considered. The Lord's battle, however, argues that the pulpit offered an especially vital platform for clergymen who opposed the dramatic changes in Church and state that England experienced in the mid-seventeenth century. It shows that royalists after 1640 were moved to rethink earlier attitudes to preaching and print, as the unique potential for sermons to influence both popular and elite audiences became clear. As well as contributing to our understanding of preaching during the Civil Wars therefore, this book engages with recent debates about the nature of royalism in seventeenth-century England. -- .

Newly revised and updated, the second edition of English Catholicism 1558-1642 explores the position of Catholics in early modern English society, their political significance, and the internal politics of the Catholic community. The Elizabethan religious settlement of 1559 ostensibly outlawed Catholicism in England, while subsequent events such as the papal excommunication of Elizabeth I, the Spanish Armada, and the Gunpowder Plot led to draconian penalties and persecution. The problem of Catholicism preoccupied every English government between Elizabeth I and Charles I, even if the numbers of Catholics remained small. Nevertheless, a Catholic community not only survived in early modern England but also exerted a surprising degree of influence. Amid intense persecution, expressions of Catholicism ranged from those who refused outright to attend the parish church (recusants) to 'church papists' who remained Catholics at heart. English Catholicism 1558-1642 shows that, against all odds, Catholics remained an influential and historically significant minority of religious dissenters in early modern England. Co-authored with Francis Young, this volume has been updated to include recent developments in the historiography of English Catholicism. It is a useful introduction for all undergraduate students interested in the English Reformation and early modern English history.

The human and financial cost of war between 1544 and 1604 strained English government and society to their limits. Paul E. J. Hammer offers a new narrative of these wars which weaves together developments on land and sea. Combining original work and a synthesis of existing research, Hammer explores how the government of Elizabeth I overhauled English strategy and weapons to create forces capable of confronting the might of Habsburg Spain.

Early Modern Italy is a fascinating survey of society in Italy from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries - the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Covering the whole of the Peninsula from the Venetian Republic, to Florence, through to Naples it shows how the huge economic, cultural and social divides of the period still affect the stability of present day united Italy.
This is an essential guide to one of the most vibrant yet tempestuous periods of Italian history.

"I would rather live in a country with newspapers and without a government, than in a country with a government but without newspapers" - Thomas Jefferson. This is the first volume in a set traces the development of American journalism from its early beginnings in the 17th century up until 1940. Together the books outline the enormous changes which the industry underwent, from the production techniques to journalistic practices and changes in distribution methods. Media historians considered Hudson's history, "Journalism in the United States, from 1600-1872 (1873)", to be the authoritative text for the study of the development of American journalism, a subject previously neglected by American historians. The work has remained an important source for modern day scholars. Hudson (1819-75) became known as "the father of journalism" for his innovative news-gathering practices and was managing editor of the New York Herald, which by the outbreak of the Civil War was the most widely read newspaper in the United States. Alfred McClung Lee's "The Daily Newspaper in America. The Evolution of a Social Instrument" is an extensive examination of the newspaper industry from 1710 to 1936, from a

"I would rather live in a country with newspapers and without a government, than in a country with a government but without newspapers" - Thomas Jefferson. This is the second volume in a set traces the development of American journalism from its early beginnings in the 17th century up until 1940. Together the books outline the enormous changes which the industry underwent, from the production techniques to journalistic practices and changes in distribution methods. Media historians considered Hudson's history, "Journalism in the United States, from 1600-1872 (1873)", to be the authoritative text for the study of the development of American journalism, a subject previously neglected by American historians. The work has remained an important source for modern day scholars. Hudson (1819-75) became known as "the father of journalism" for his innovative news-gathering practices and was managing editor of the New York Herald, which by the outbreak of the Civil War was the most widely read newspaper in the United States. Alfred McClung Lee's "The Daily Newspaper in America. The Evolution of a Social Instrument" is an extensive examination of the newspaper industry from 1710 to 1936, from