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Identity and agency in England, 1500-1800 PDF

275 Pages·2004·0.79 MB·English
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Identity and Agency in England, 1500–1800 Edited by Henry French and Jonathan Barry Identity and Agency in England, 1500–1800 Also by Jonathan Barry RELIGION IN BRISTOL c. 1640–1775 WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY IN SOUTH-WEST ENGLAND (forthcoming) PALGRAVE ADVANCES IN WITCHCRAFT STUDIES (forthcoming) Also by Henry French THE CHARACTER OF ENGLISH RURAL SOCIETY, 1500– 1750 Identity and Agency in England, 1500–1800 Edited by Henry French and Jonathan Barry Editorial matter, selection, Introduction © Jonathan Barry and Henry French 2004 Remaining chapters © Palgrave Macmillan Ltd 2004 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2004 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 1–4039–1764–7 hardback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Identity and agency in England, 1500–1800 / edited by Henry French & Jonathan Barry. p. cm. “Derives from papers given at a colloquium held at the University of Exeter in September 2002”—Pref. Includes bibliographical references and index. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1–4039–1764–7 1. Social status – England – History – Congresses. 2. Social role – England – History – Congresses. 3. Marginality, Social – England – History – Congresses. 4. Group identity – England – History – Congresses. 5. England – Social conditions – 16th century – Congresses. 6. England – Social conditions – 17th century – Congresses. 7. England – Social conditions – 18th century – Congresses. I. French, Henry, 1968– II. Barry, Jonathan, 1956– HN 398.E5I34 2004 305Ј.0942Ј0903—dc22 2004052089 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne Contents List of Tables and Figure vii Preface and Acknowledgements viii Notes on Contributors x ‘Identity and Agency in English Society, 1500–1800’ – Introduction 1 Henry French with Jonathan Barry 1 Civility, Honesty and the Identification of the Deserving Poor in Seventeenth- century England 38 Steve Hindle 2 Social Inequality, Identity and the Labouring Poor in Eighteenth-century England 60 Peter King 3 Honesty, Worth and Gender in Early Modern England, 1560–1640 87 Alexandra Shepard 4 A Dynamic Model of Social Relations: Celibacy, Credit and the Identity of the ‘Spinster’ in Seventeenth-century England 106 Judith Spicksley 5 Class and Credit: Social Identity, Wealth and the Life Course in Early Modern England 147 Craig Muldrew 6 Sense and Singularity: The Social Experiences of John Marsh and Thomas Stutterd in Late-Georgian England 178 Helen Berry v vi Contents 7 Agency, Custom, and the English Corporate System 200 Phil Withington Bibliography 223 Index 242 List of Tables and Figure Tables 2.1 General poor relief levels in Quainton, Bucks., 1833 and 1834 compared to Joseph Mayett’s poor relief payments 72 2.2 Poor relief levels for different types of regular receiver, Quainton, Bucks., September 1834 73 2.3 Female poor relief levels in Quainton, Bucks., 1839 74 5.1 Continuity of surnames of individuals rated on more than four hearths between 1662 and 1674 153 5.2 Survival of surnames among members of the ‘Twelve’ in Lewes, Sussex, 1591–1741 154 5.3 Survival of surnames among aldermen of High Wycombe, Bucks., 1650–1710 154 Figure 2.1 Joseph Mayett’s monthly poor relief payments, Quainton, Bucks., July 1828– June 1835 72 vii Preface and Acknowledgements This volume of essays derives from papers given at a Colloquium held at the University of Exeter in September 2002, on the subjects of ‘Social Identity, Class and Status in England, 1500–1800’. The idea behind this event was to draw together some of the leading researchers on the subject of social identity, to explore what was left in terms of explanations, after the weakening of Marxist, and other ‘structural’ accounts of human agency in the past. The aim of the organisers was to focus primarily on empirical research, but to use the colloquium as an opportunity to draw out common themes, and discuss the more abstract methodological implications of these studies. This discussion, and the degree to which the disparate subjects addressed a set of common themes, inspired the editors to seek publication of these papers, for their own sake, and because they addressed a series of themes of contemporary relevance in historical studies. In particular, these were the extent to which ordinary individuals could shape their own destinies, and the degree to which they were limited by social, moral, gender or other conventions. Identity is an extremely broad subject, and in organising the original colloquium, and collecting these essays, some conscious decisions were made regarding subject matter. Two significant areas of historical interest in identity were not addressed. These are, first, national identity or the creation and meaning of ‘British-ness’ in the early modern period. The second was sexuality and its relationship to gender identity. In both cases, the reason for this omission is because such themes have been the subject of intense and vibrant existing debates among historians. These themes appeared not to require revisiting, in the same way that questions of social agency did, particularly as they related to poverty, estimations of status and repute, and corporate identity, in the light of recent research developments. The editors would like to thank the contributors to this volume, first for the stimulating discussions at the Exeter colloquium, and then for their co-operation, speed and efficiency in turning their papers into completed chapters, and their helpful advise in relation to the introduction. Thanks are also due to Tim Hitchcock for his stimulating paper at the event in 2002. The colloquium was organised with the assistance of Mark Overton and Jane Whittle, and benefited greatly from their viii

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