Urban patronage in early modern England: corporate boroughs, the landed elite, and the crown, 1580-1640

Abstract

C. E. Patterson, Urban Patronage in Early Modern England: Corporate Boroughs, the Landed Elite, and the Crown, 1580-1640, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. viii + 337, hb. £50 ($60), ISBN: 0804735875Corporations were institutions which might come to constitute a political interest. Institutional integrity, and the interest that this might represent, were promoted and defended against rivals. This book examines how these institutional and political interests were mediated and conducted, concentrating on an important medium for the conduct of these politics - patronage. It offers convincing criticism of two dichotomies common in the writing of early modern history - the distinction between centre and locality and between citizen and outsider. Both (apparently common sense) distinctions conceal important aspects of the functioning of early modern English politics. Patrons (outsiders who were invited in) were able to help to resolve conflicts both within towns and between towns and rival corporations. In doing so they both appealed to the Crown on behalf of the corporation but also might be recruited to defend particular corporate interests against measures taken by the Crown. The book is based on the records of a varied mix of boroughs around the country - Barnstaple, Chester, Coventry, Dover, Exeter, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, Leicester, Winchester and Worcester. It deals, therefore, mainly with smaller towns, and discussion of giants like London, Norwich and Bristol is limited. The chronological limits are set by the establishment of the routines of administration which are usually referred to as the 'Elizabethan constitution' by 1580 and the breakdown of government in 1640. The emphasis, however, is on how politics worked in this period, rather than on problems - it is definitely not a pre-history of the civil war. It is not a comprehensive urban history, therefore, but a thematic discussion of the mediation of political and administrative conflicts in early modern England. Corporate politics in this period have not been integrated into general accounts of government and this book serves an important purpose in doing so. The prose is clear and lively, if occasionally more informal than some readers may like.There are five thematic chapters, followed by a case study. The first chapter explores the ways in which the relationship between patron and borough was established. It was sealed with gifts and entailed obligations and commitments on both sides. Patterson illuminates this relationship, which has been written about in other early modern contexts, with reference to the extensive anthropological literature on the subject. The second chapter looks at the specific roles played by patrons in the boroughs and the following three chapters explore their role in particular kinds of conflict - resolving disputes within towns, between rival jurisdictions in the localities and mediating the relationship between corporations and the Crown. …