Humanities & Social Sciences

Westminster 1640–60

A royal city in a time of revolution

by Peter Lake, J. F. Merritt, Anthony Milton, Jason Peacey, Alexandra Gajda

Description

This book examines the varied and fascinating ways that Westminster - traditionally home to the royal court, the fashionable West End and parliament - became the seat of the successive, non-monarchical regimes of the 1640s and 1650s. It first explores the town as the venue that helped to shape the breakdown of relations between the king and parliament in 1640-42. Subsequent chapters explore the role Westminster performed as both the ceremonial and administrative heart of shifting regimes, the hitherto unnoticed militarisation of local society through the 1640s and 1650s, and the fluctuating fortunes of the fashionable society of the West End in this revolutionary context. Analyses of religious life and patterns of local political allegiance and government unveil a complex and dynamic picture, in which the area not only witnessed major political and cultural change in these turbulent decades, but also the persistence of conservatism on the very doorstep of government.

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Reviews

To pre-civil war commentators on the capital, Westminster was traditionally viewed as the 'royal' city. It was the site of Whitehall Palace and the royal courts of justice, while its Abbey was the 'house of kings'. In contrast to London, its inhabitants were assumed to be instinctive followers of king and court. Yet after January 1642 the monarch no longer resided there, and after 1649 there was no monarchy. Instead the town hosted regicidal regimes whose most prominent members occupied highly visible roles in local society and controlled its iconic buildings and spaces. This book examines the varied and fascinating ways in which the series of non-monarchical regimes of the period interacted with this unique locality and its community. Westminster emerges as a site of extraordinary ambiguities and juxtapositions. The promoters of vigorous moral reformation and a sustained and often intrusive military presence coexisted uneasily with the area's distinctive forms of elite sociability and luxury. The state's foremost godly preachers performed in close proximity to royalist churchmen. More generally, the forces of political, religious and cultural conservatism could be observed on the very doorstep of the non-monarchical regimes. At key moments, Westminster's distinctive geography and government also played a significant role in shaping the political crises of the period. As the first monograph dealing with this crucial part of the metropolis during the civil wars and interregnum, this important book will be essential reading for those interested in the political, religious and cultural history of the 1640s and 1650s, for historians of the capital, and for those studying the literature and cultural geography of early modern England.

Author Biography

Peter Lake is University Distinguished Professor of History at Vanderbilt University; J. F. Merritt is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Nottingham; Anthony Milton is Professor of Early Modern British History at the University of Sheffield; ;

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Bibliographic Information

  • Publisher Manchester University Press
  • Publication Date September 2018
  • Orginal LanguageEnglish
  • ISBN/Identifier 9781526137036 / 1526137038
  • Publication Country or regionUnited Kingdom
  • ReadershipGeneral/trade
  • Publish StatusPublished
  • Dimensions234 X 156 mm
  • SeriesPolitics, Culture and Society in Early Modern Britain
  • Reference Code11790

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