Early Modern England Research Articles

The Practice of Poverty Relief in Early Modern England: Central and Local Areas

The Practice of Poverty Relief in Early Modern England: Central and Local Areas

Nominal wage patterns, monopsony, and labour market power in early modern England

AbstractRecords of long‐eighteenth‐century English wage rates exhibit almost absolute nominal rigidity over many decades, alongside significant dispersion between the wages paid by different organizations for the same type of work in the same location. These features of preindustrial wages have been obscured by data aggregation and the construction of real wage series, which introduce variation. In this paper, we argue that the standard explanations for wage rigidity in economic history are insufficient. We show econometric evidence for monopsony power in one major organization and argue that the main historical wage series are also affected by employer power. Eighteenth‐century England had an imperfectly competitive labour market with large frictions. This gave large organizations the power to set wage policies. We discuss the implications for the eighteenth‐century British economy and research into long‐run wages more generally.

Double-Gifting and Self-Interested Charity in The Merchant of Venice

This essay analyzes the enacting of charity in The Merchant of Venice, with particular emphasis on moments of “double-gifting” in the plotlines of Portia and Antonio. Building on Henry Berger Jr.’s reading of the play in “Mercifixion in The Merchant of Venice,” I argue that both Bassanio’s wife and friend attempt to exert power over him by weaponizing unspoken obligations of reciprocity underlying their extravagant, repeated gifts of both self and property. Though Portia’s success at winning Bassanio’s fealty (as well as personal freedom for herself) contrasts sharply with Antonio’s near-complete loss of influence, a close reading of the ring plot and merry bond reveals a similar strategy of manipulation via charity behind the actions of both characters. I conclude by connecting the essay’s discussion of the play’s altered gift exchanges to the reality of emergent mercantile capitalism in early modern England, suggesting that said exchanges can be read as instances of “purchasing” interpersonal goods in a manner less explicit than, though bearing resemblance to, Shylock’s use of the money lending contract to obtain revenge on Antonio.

The Madman and the Church Robber: Law and Conflict in Early Modern England, by Jason Peacey

<i>The Madman and the Church Robber: Law and Conflict in Early Modern England</i>, by Jason Peacey

Making beds in early modern England: sleep, matter and environmental change

Abstract Bringing environmental history, the history of medicine and the history of poverty into conversation with material culture studies, this article argues that sleep management in early modern England involved environmental practices in which bodies and matter were interwoven. Using records relating to the Worshipful Company of Upholders in London as a starting point, the article uncovers for the first time the range of animal and plant matter upon which early modern people slept. In so doing it transforms our view of the sleeping conditions of the early modern poor and demonstrates the significance of place-specific, material knowledge for health care practices.

Sibling Rivalry, (Dis)Inheritance and Politics in Aphra Behn’s The Younger Brother and Susanna Centlivre’s The Artifice

Behn and Centlivre used their comedies about the rivalry between an elder and a younger brother concerning an inheritance to make a political statement. Primogeniture was customary in early-modern England, and if an estate was entailed (rather than held in fee simple), it was difficult, though not impossible, to will it away to another person. The reasons meriting disinheritance were widely discussed, but in the two plays, the Tory fathers disinherit their Whig elder sons for political reasons. As The Younger Brother was staged posthumously and altered by Charles Gildon, it is arguable what Behn’s manuscript looked like, but there are indications that the elder brother was meant to be a downright republican and that Behn saw to it that the estate would go to the Tory younger brother, whose political stance she shared. In The Artifice, the father disinherits his upright elder son because he punished a Jacobite clergyman (whom the Whigs would have considered traitorous), but Centlivre—a zealous Whig herself—engineered an ending that reinstates the elder brother but also provides the younger with a comfortable income. Both dramatists also dealt with the inheritance prospects of women and the power of disposal they have over their portions.

Eoin Bentick. Literatures of Alchemy in Medieval and Early Modern England Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2022. Pp. 228. $105.00 (cloth).

Eoin Bentick. Literatures of Alchemy in Medieval and Early Modern England Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2022. Pp. 228. $105.00 (cloth).

‘My Charges About the Highways’: Constables and Infrastructure in Seventeenth-Century Yorkshire

The processes through which northern townships, customarily governed by strong manorial institutions, came to embrace the structures and routines of vestry governance and supervision by county justices have long required further scholarly investigation. This paper presents a reassessment of the role played by the constables of the West Riding township of Sowerby, Halifax parish, in managing the highways function over the seventeenth century. This is feasible through the happy combination of contemporaneous paper records for the Wakefield court leet and of unusual and exceptionally revealing petty constables’ accounts. Sowerby’s constables creatively exploited mechanisms at the leet to enforce tenurial and township obligations for road repairs. While the appointment of surveyors is unattested before 1694 and statute duty arrangements are, at best, uncertain, a precocious policy of tax-funded maintenance became embedded in governance routines, as the township’s propertied and clothier elite responded to the mid-century political crisis and pulses of assertiveness from the Justices’ bench. Independency and improvisation are strongly supportive of change from below as the north’s distinctive contribution to state formation in early modern England.

:Reformation Hermeneutics and Literary Language in Early Modern England: Faith in the Language

:<i>Reformation Hermeneutics and Literary Language in Early Modern England: Faith in the Language</i>

:A Weak Woman in a Strong Battle: Women and Public Execution in Early Modern England

:<i>A Weak Woman in a Strong Battle: Women and Public Execution in Early Modern England</i>

:The Paradoxes of Ignorance in Early Modern England and France.

:<i>The Paradoxes of Ignorance in Early Modern England and France.</i>

:Women’s Labour and the History of the Book in Early Modern England

:<i>Women’s Labour and the History of the Book in Early Modern England</i>

Making Commotion: Riot and Protest in the Texts of 2 Henry VI

Abstract: This essay argues that the textual differences between the quarto and folio versions of William Shakespeare’s 2 Henry VI evince the three-way ideological contestation between the aristocracy, the middling sort, and the lower classes in early modern England. Perhaps the most famous scenes from the play, those depicting Jack Cade’s rebellion, exist in both versions, but the portrayal of the uprising is very different between the two texts. The 1594 quarto gives us a vicious Cade intent on destroying businesses, raping women, and spurning well-meaning nobles; the 1623 folio version, by contrast, gives us an eloquent if imperfect Cade whose grievances are justified, reasoned, and well articulated. Political and economic power was steadily shifting during this period from the aristocracy to the middling sort, and, although the differences in Cade’s rebellion from the quarto to the folio might seem to indicate a revision in favor of the rebels, what the changes represent is the beginning of the transfer of ideological power from the aristocracy to upper-class commoners. To the nobility, the rebels are rioters, intent on causing chaos. For the middling sort, it was more advantageous to label them justified protesters, as the rebellion might remove the middling sort’s direct competition—the aristocracy. Thus, the two authoritative texts of Shakespeare’s 2 Henry VI can help us understand changing perceptions of popular riot and protest in the period and their connection to dominant and emerging class ideologies.

:Bad Blood: Staging Race between Early Modern England and Spain

:<i>Bad Blood: Staging Race between Early Modern England and Spain</i>

:Fictions of Consent: Slavery, Servitude, and Free Service in Early Modern England

:<i>Fictions of Consent: Slavery, Servitude, and Free Service in Early Modern England</i>

Luther in Early Modern English

Abstract: This article surveys and examines the translations into English of Luther's works during the early modern period. Certain themes emerge, with anti-Catholicism, devotion, and consolation particularly noted as safe and unobjectionable Lutheran topics for English audiences. English reformers chose to integrate certain divines from the European mainland at certain points, with Luther playing key roles. The reign of Elizabeth (1558–1603) was a highpoint for English translations of Luther, and these coincided with other efforts by some in England as well as Germany to emphasize unity among Protestants while downplaying divisions. A flexible and contingent deployment of Luther in English continued into the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when developments such as the Civil Wars, the Restoration, and German immigration provided moments of relevance for Luther. The article draws on and points to the considerable scholarship that has reshaped English Reformation studies over the past few decades, and it offers reflections on how the particularity of early modern England can be seen in relation to the heterogeneity of Reformation Europe.

‘A Pope Shut out of Heaven Gates (Thrice)’: Erasmus’ Julius as a tool of anti-Catholic propaganda in early modern England

The present article follows the editorial vicissitudes of Erasmus of Rotterdam's Julius within England's boundaries, where it was translated in 1533–34, in 1673, and in 1719. By interweaving the publishing history of these three English editions with their cultural milieu, it will appear evident that they were ideologically motivated products whose circulation directly coincided with an upheaval in Catholic matters in the country. The final purpose of this article is to demonstrate how Erasmus’ Julius, with its negative protagonist, was too compelling a weapon not to be used to stigmatise Catholicism and to prevent it from returning to the British Isles.

Performance and race: teaching Shakespeare to Saudi students using current events and popular culture

ABSTRACT This article considers the relevance of Shakespeare’s works to foreign students when taught in a non-native context, specifically, in Saudi Arabia. It argues that a student-centred approach could shed light on what is relevant to young people today, even if the texts themselves may seem anachronistic. Adopting a comparative approach that explores common factors between early modern England and contemporary Saudi Arabia, I examine the theatrical practices of both periods in relation to gender, religion, and race. I offer an historical overview of Saudi theatre, highlighting factors that played a role in delaying its development, such as women’s absence from the stage and the antitheatrical sentiments influenced by the reformist Sahwa movement. Aiming to make Shakespeare accessible through connections to current events and popular culture, I consider Saudi Arabia’s fast-changing socio-political landscape, including cultural reforms and recognition of women’s role in theatre. In particular, I focus on blackface, a theatrical trope that has traces in the early modern period and still persists in the western world. I have found that this approach has helped develop students’ ethical sensitivities to ethnic bias and religious intolerance, as well as directing them towards making appropriate choices as future playwrights, performers, and directors.

Coles, Kimberly Anne. Bad Humor: Race and Religious Essentialism in Early Modern England

Coles, Kimberly Anne. Bad Humor: Race and Religious Essentialism in Early Modern England

The plague, the skill-premium, and the road to modern economic growth

Abstract When bubonic plague arrived in Britain in the mid-14th century, it caused dramatic economic and structural change. Within 50 years, the skill-premium was reduced by half, and another 50 years on, agriculture’s share of the labor force had declined by more than 20 percentage points. This paper develops a two-sector pre-industrial growth model and draws on recent data sources covering Late Medieval and Early Modern Britain to explain these and the ensuing developments. Our main findings are that the skill-premium’s decline was related to the guild and apprenticeship system and that it and the other post-Plague adjustments were crucial determinants of the British trajectory toward industrialization. In particular, prior sectoral transformation and the skill-premium’s determination were important when the Early Modern population boom (1525–1654) threatened to reverse the adjustments caused by the Plague.