Terrorism before the Letter: Mythography and Political Violence in England, Scotland, and France 1559–1642 by Robert Applebaum

Abstract

Reviewed by: Terrorism before the Letter: Mythography and Political Violence in England, Scotland, and France 1559–1642 by Robert Applebaum Jane Fitzgerald Applebaum, Robert, Terrorism before the Letter: Mythography and Political Violence in England, Scotland, and France 1559–1642, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015; hardback; pp. xi, 270; R.R.P. US $100.00, £55.00; ISBN 9780198745761. This ambitious work has a great deal to offer scholars of early modern history as well as the study of terrorism. Robert Applebaum reconsiders acts of political violence from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century, within the framework of terrorism (p. 1). He does so, in part, to make the case for studying terrorism from historical perspectives, and for introducing such perspectives into 'critical terrorism studies' (p. 35). This is a significant departure from previous scholarship, which has considered themes of terrorism in contemporary literature, but so far avoided comprehensive examination of early modern terrorism (pp. 3, 25). Terrorism before the Letter makes a further claim for the value of cultural and literary history (p. 25). Applebaum's starting point, the 1628 assassination of George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, is a compelling one. It successfully supports his argument that terrorism is discernible in the early modern political realm and public imagination, well before the term was coined in the wake of the French Revolution (pp. 10–11). In this context, Buckingham's assassin could believe himself justified in committing such an act, and others could decry or support this violence, drawing upon the Bible, classical literature, and recent political events to bolster their arguments (pp. 3–4). Applebaum's analysis suggests new ways of understanding these culturally influential acts of violence, and the nebulous role that violence occupied within early modern consciousness. Terrorism is notoriously difficult to define (pp. 6–7). Applebaum draws on Walter Laqueur's 'minimal definition' of terrorism, which specifies 'the systematic use of murder, injury, and destruction, or the threat of such acts, aimed at achieving political ends' (No End to War: Terrorism in the Twenty-first Century, Continuum, 2004). However, he also stresses the linkages between 'criminality and justifiability' and argues that perpetrators invariably justified their actions outside the legal framework (pp. 12, 18–19). This work considers mid-sixteenth century England, Scotland, and France, up until the early 1640s. Applebaum argues that terrorist violence was particularly prevalent during this period, due to 'a complex of ideas, attitudes, mythical musings, and violent struggles' (p. 3). His thesis that there is a nascent 'line of descent' in terrorist violence, from the ancient world, to the early modern, to the modern day, is compelling. It suggests new directions for historians of violence when considering early instances of terror, and convincingly argues for a broader approach to critical terrorism studies (p. 28). [End Page 273] Jane Fitzgerald The University of Newcastle Copyright © 2021 Jane Fitzgerald