Plotting Popular Politics in Interregnum England

Download or read book Plotting Popular Politics in Interregnum England written by Caroline S. Boswell and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 692 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation examines how ordinary English men and women negotiated the social, cultural and political changes that accompanied a devastating Civil War and the execution of their King in 1649. Arguing against the dichotomy that classifies people's reactions as either 'conventional' or 'radical' based on their political allegiances, it maintains that the people supported regimes whose pretenses conformed to popular values. This study includes an investigation of the various means of resistance people exercised against government intrusion into their everyday lives. Despite officials' repressive measures to curb the expression of opinion, people continued to engage with the political culture fostered by the outbreak of pamphlet literature during the civil wars. Court records, pamphlets and manuscript accounts indicate that men and women articulated discontent through speech acts, ritualistic violence, intimidation and noncooperation with the enforcement of unpopular policies. In response to intrusive policies, people frequently focused their grievances on symbolic figures associated with the state. These despised characters, such as excise-men and soldiers, were people whose entrance into local society led to a drain on its economy and threatened its stability---with no perceivable benefit to its inhabitants. Although these manifestations of dissent cannot simply be equated with popular royalism, the fact remains that the restoration of the monarchy was largely welcomed throughout the nation. This dissertation argues that royalist propagandists redefined people's animosity toward the Interregnum state as evidence of their loyalty to the Stuarts, particularly in the months leading up to the Restoration of Charles II. In their rhetoric, royalists not only embraced traditional cultural practices, they also connected their continuation with the survival of monarchy. Analyzing the politics surrounding popular disaffection and the politics of popular disaffection reveals that people's discontent played a significant role in creating fertile soil for the Restoration in 1660.