The politics of the parish are increasingly attracting the attention of historians of early
modern England. The exploration of the depth and extent of popular participation in the process of
governance has disclosed sophisticated forms of political organization at relatively humble social levels.
The locus classicus of innovation in parish governance is arguably the set of articles drawn up by the
chief inhabitants of the Wiltshire community of Swallowfield in 1596. The articles are printed here
for the first time. The introduction seeks to place them in their geographical, chronological, and
historiographical contexts. In particular, the articles have profound implications for current debates
over the nature and meaning of ‘community’, the dynamics of the growth of the state, and the scale
and impulse of the reformation of manners.
Law, Governance, and the Ecological Ethos
