Revolt and Revolution in Early Modern Europe: An essay on the history of political violence , and: Village Revolts: Social Protest and Popular Disturbances in England, 1509-1640 (review)

Abstract

114 Reviews Berce, Y.-M., Revolt and Revolution in Early Modern Europe: An essay on the history ofpolitical violence, trans. J. Bergin, Manchester, U. of Manchester P., 1987; pp.236; R.R.P. A U S $80.00. Manning, R.B., Village Revolts: Social Protest and Popular Disturbances in England, 1509-1640, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988; pp.xiii, 354; 2 maps, 8 tables; R.R.P. A U S $120.00. W e have here two very different books. Revolt and Revolution is the English translation of Professor Berc6's 1980 brief but sparkling survey of patterns of politicd violence in Early M o d e m Europe; Village Revolts follows what Professor Manning cdls 'the labyrinthian way' of the agricultural, socid and legd history of Tudor and early-Stuart England. The first leaps from taverns in Spdn to ravaging Bashkirs by way of fables from Montdgne; the second delves into 299 cases of anti-enclosureriotheard for the most part in the Court of Star Chamber. Berce' establishes 'typologies' of behaviour, recurring myths, the role of the environment, the functions ofrevolt,the connections between revolt and festivd, vast trends of intellectud and politicd history from the medievd period to the mid 19th century; Manning immerses us in the draining of fens, up-and-down husbandry, impopulation, proto-industry and the rases of grasping landlords, dignified by the term 'fiscal seigneurialism'. Both accounts work splendidly on their own terms but they do have their problems. There is the imbalance and simplification of Berces potted histories of the English Revolution, the Reformation, or the Pugachev revolt Apart from his specific discussion of serf revolts or the Ottoman frontier, his argument is heavily weighted in favour of Western Europe. Manning however makes no attempt to consider a European context. Even 'festive misrule' appears as just another dour category of London disturbance. The chapter on Londonriotsis self-consciously justified on the grounds that the apprentices' concerns were locd and parochid thoughriotsin other urban centres are not included. Space is not found for the major Tudor rebellions but there is yet another discussion of poverty and 'masterless men' based largely on secondary sources. What these contrasting studies have in common is a commitment to scholarship and a hostility to economic determinism. Berc6's study, practicdly unencumbered by footnotes, wears his erudition more lightly. It would be helpful if each chapter had been provided with a select bibliography. The English edition does at least offer a bibliographicd supplement of works, mostly in French or English, that have appeared since 1980. Both writiers keep a firm grasp on long-term economic development and short-term conjoncture but stress thd revolt in Early M o d e m Europe was not the reaction of an oppressed class but of a frightened or outraged community. The community in Manning is threatened by the enclosure of its commons, in Berc6 by the State's destruction Reviews 115 of a traditiond privilege, by a new tax, or by a foreign officid. A fundamentd loydism to a good king and an accepted code ofjustice leads Berc6'srebelsto a mythologicd golden past; Manning's rebels, guided by tradition and custom, 'were vdnly attempting to restore a lost world which may never have been'. Both hsitorians dso stress thatrevoltswere often led by members of the elite or educated classes: gentry, craftsmen, priests ... Hostility to 'Marxist vulgarisation*, however, is particularly strong in Berc6. Manning does dlow the gradud appearance of 'verticd' socid conflict. He finds it implicit in the increased number of anti-enclosureriotsin the 1590s and explicit in the Midland Revolt of 1607: 'They will accompt with clergie men and counsell is given to kill up Gentlemen, and they will levell dl states as they levelled bankes and ditches'. For Berc6 the nasty effects of the new agriculture can be relegated to the 18th century and the absence of peasant smallholders in England prevented the growth of rural consciousness. To illustrate 'British inedentism' in his discussion of peasant wars he chooses the Pilgrimage of Grace. Ultimately the nature of revolt is shaped by autonomous intellectud and politicd forces - the force of religious belief and the growth of the centralised state. In the 18th century...