Reformation to Industrial Revolution: The Making of Modern English Society, Vol. I 1530–1780

275 Pages·1967·5.743 MB·English

by  Christopher Hill

Christopher Hill
The Making of
Modern English Society
M l 1530-1780
56.05
In 1530
England was a backward
economy, not even one of the most advanced
European countries, yet in 1780 she pos­
sessed a world empire and was just about
to become the first industrialized power in
the world. This book deals with the inter­
vening 250 years, possibly one of the most
dramatic and decisive periods in English
history, and tries to explain how England
won her unique position.
To accomplish this it is necessary to closely
analyse the changing structure of English
society, of agricultural and industrial his­
tory and the expansion of trade, but it also
involves politics—the winning of a say in
government by those interested in economic
expansion and the adoption of an aggressive
foreign and imperial policy. This period also
involves ideas—the contribution of protes-
tantism to economic and scientific advance,
the development of religious toleration and
the decline of superstition, educational de­
velopment and, finally, the beginnings of in­
dustrialization.
Social history for Professor Hill is not (as
it was for G. M. Trevelyan) “the history of
a people with the politics left out.” It is poli­
tics and society mutually interacting, both
influencing and being influenced by the life
of the mind and of the spirit. In his book
Professor Hill, one of Britain’s most distin­
guished historians, tries to look at English
society as a whole during this exciting and
important period of English history, weav­
ing together its economic, political, reli­
gious and intellectual life, and pinpoint the
changes which enabled England to win the
world priority she was to retain for over a
hundred years.
Jacket design by Adelson/Eichinger
Reformation to
Industrial
Revolution
The Making of Modern English
Society, Vol. I 1530-1780

R efo rm a tio n to
In d u stria l
R ev o lu tio n
The Making of Modem English
Society, 1530-1780
Voi. /
CHRISTOPHER HILL
Master of Balliol College, Oxford
Pantheon Books A Division of
Random House, New York
First American Edition
© Copyright, 1967, by Christopher Hill
All rights reserved under International and Pan American
Copyright Conventions. Published in New York
by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.,
and in Great Britain by Penguin Books Ltd.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-10698
Manufactured in the United States of America
Printed by Holliday Lithograph Corp., West Hanover, Mass.
Bound by the Book Press, Brattleboro, Vermont
For Vivien Galbraith
with the accumulated gratitude of 37 years

Contents
Preface vii
Part One Introduction 1
1 Argument 3
2 1530-1780 6
Part Two From Reformation to Revolution 11
1 National Unification 13
2 The People 30
3 Agriculture and Agrarian Relations 45
4 Trade, Colonies and Foreign Policy 54
5 Industry and Government Economic Policy 63
6 Finance 79
7 Religion and Intellectual Life 86
8 From Peasants’ Revolts to Revolution 93
Part Three The Revolution 97
1 The Civil War 99
2 The Revolution in Government 106
3 The Agricultural Revolution 115
4 The Commercial Revolution, Empire
and Foreign Policy 123
5 Industry 135
6 The Financial Revolution 144
7 Religion and Intellectual Life 152
Part Four From Political to Industrial Revolution 171
1 Society and Politics^ 173
2 Trade, Empire and Foreign Policy 184
3 Towards Industrial Revolution 196
4 Factories and the Working Class 214
5 Agriculture and Agrarian Relations 221
6 Religion and Intellectual Life 227
7 Retrospect 234
Part Five Conclusion 237
Books for Further Reading 241
Index 245
About the Author 257
Other Pantheon Studies in Social History 259