Trade, sociability and governance in an English incorporated borough: ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ worlds in Leicester, c. 1570–1640

Urban History ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
YOH KAWANA
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Spatial Context ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Civic Society ◽  
Different Ages ◽  
Simultaneous Existence ◽  
Informal Groups

This study highlights the simultaneous existence of ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ forces in an incorporated borough and their relevance to civic society and governance in a spatial context. Loosely organized networks of men and women of different ages and status were evidenced in credit arrangements, small-scale dealings and sociability in markets, streets and residential houses. These public and private spaces were also subjected to a civic government which attempted to integrate uncontrolled activities into the society of freemen. It is argued that the actions and decisions taken by informal groups and associations were constitutive of the progress of civic society in early modern England.

Summary of Closing Plenary Discussion on ‘Honour and Reputation in Early Modern England’

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 247-248
Author(s):  
Ingrid Tague ◽  
Helen Berry
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Historical Approach ◽  
Companionate Marriage ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Richard Cust connected honour to his work on political culture and the gentry. He introduced the work of Mervyn James on honour as a framework for thinking about behavioural change over time. He suggested that the new historical approach is a multi-layered rather than a teleological one. Certain speakers had emphasised change rather than continuity over time, while others challenged such an approach. Important new themes had been introduced by the conference speakers, such as the importance of lineage, the impact of the companionate marriage, the relationship between public and private notions of honour and the acceptability of violence as a means of defending or challenging honour. He suggested two related ways of thinking about honour that had not been touched on by any of the speakers: the notion of ‘honesty’ to refer to a godly magistrate following his conscience, and the importance of godliness generally, a pious reputation as key means of establishing one's honour.

Lyric Poetry

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Clarke ◽  
Simon Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
John Donne ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Song Of Songs ◽  
George Herbert ◽  
Aemilia Lanyer ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Religious Lyric

Legitimized by the poetry of the Bible, devotional lyric verse—crossing denominational lines, often combining Reformation spirituality with Renaissance rhetoric—flourished in early modern England. Poets like Mary and Philip Sidney and George Herbert modelled their work on the Book of Psalms, at times imitating the prosodic simplicity of the Sternhold and Hopkins metrical psalms, elsewhere adapting the sophisticated stanzaic variety of the Marot/Beze Psalter. Women like Aemilia Lanyer and Anne Southwell used the Song of Songs to express their devotion to Christ. The ‘mystical marriage’ was often used by women such as Barbara Mackay, who produced a version of the Song of Songs in manuscript, and Elizabeth Melville, who parodied Petrarchan poetry; and it was employed in shocking fashion by John Donne. The religious lyric exists on the borderline of public and private: in conclusion, we present such lyrics as social and occasional, and examine their relationship with music.

Shylock, the Devil and the Meaning of Deception in The Merchant of Venice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Jonathan Elukin
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Fallen World

Abstract The article explores Shakespeare’s secularized retelling of the Christian theological narrative of deceiving the Devil, with Antonio playing the role of Christ and Shylock as the Devil. The article argues that recasting the contest between Christ and the Devil in the world of Venice sets the stage for Shakespeare’s larger exploration of the pervasive nature of deceit in human affairs. Although it seems that Shakespeare’s characters are resigned to live in a fallen world where truth is obscured, Portia’s invocation of mercy may be Shakespeare’s attempt to offer some hope of an earthly salvation. The article argues that this portrait of a world filled with deception resonated with Shakespeare’s audience. Men and women in early modern England lived in a world where they often had to hide their religious identities and loyalties. This interpretation challenges more recent attempts to see the play as primarily concerned with race and tolerance.

scholarly journals “Verses of My Owne Making”: Literacy, Work, and Social Identity in Early Modern England

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-184
Author(s):  
Brodie Waddell
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Commercial Development ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Reading And Writing ◽  
Shared Identity ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Social Polarization ◽  
Cheap Print

Abstract Reading and writing became widespread in England over the course of the early modern period, with literacy expanding alongside rapid commercial development and growing economic inequality. This article shows how tradesmen and others of similar rank used reading and writing to create a powerful identity that cut across some of the sharpening divisions in wealth from the late sixteenth to the early eighteenth centuries. Growing numbers of economically precarious “middling” men and women took advantage of the spread of literacy to construct social roles for themselves based on godly work, vocational knowledge, and occupational fraternity. This analysis begins with the uniquely voluminous collection of notebooks filled by an Essex tradesman named Joseph Bufton (1651–1718). Drawing on his notebooks together with other examples of non-elite writing and cheap print, it reveals a broad literary culture that was emerging in provincial towns at this time. Through this, it connects the historiography of social structure and economic change to the growing research on non-elite literacy and life-writing. Taken together, these findings suggest that the existing narrative of early modern “social polarization” should be revisited. Rather than consistently reinforcing the deep economic divisions between workers and masters, literacy could often serve as a tool for crafting a shared identity that could encompass a whole trade.

Shylock, the Devil and the Meaning of Deception in The Merchant of Venice

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Jonathan Elukin
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Religious Identities ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Fallen World

The article explores Shakespeare’s secularized retelling of the Christian theological narrative of deceiving the Devil, with Antonio playing the role of Christ and Shylock as the Devil. The article argues that recasting the contest between Christ and the Devil in the world of Venice sets the stage for Shakespeare’s larger exploration of the pervasive nature of deceit in human affairs. Although it seems that Shakespeare’s characters are resigned to live in a fallen world where truth is obscured, Portia’s invocation of mercy may be Shakespeare’s attempt to offer some hope of an earthly salvation. The article argues that this portrait of a world filled with deception resonated with Shakespeare’s audience. Men and women in early modern England lived in a world where they often had to hide their religious identities and loyalties. This interpretation challenges more recent attempts to see the play as primarily concerned with race and tolerance.

The Construction of Honour, Reputation and Status in Late Seventeenth- and Early Eighteenth-Century England

1996 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 201-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faramerz Dabhoiwala
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Early Modern England ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
The Public ◽  
Early Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Relationship

Notions of honour and reputation were ubiquitous and important in early modern England for a variety of reasons. They were part and parcel of how individuals in this society conceived of the relationship between the personal and the public, and between the projection and the perception of one's character. More particularly, they lay at the heart of two crucial issues: how people thought about social status, and about the differences between men and women.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document