Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources

316 Pages·2016·15.393 MB·English

by  Laura Sangha, Jonathan Willis (eds.)

Understanding Early Modern

Primary Sources
Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources is an introduction to the rich
treasury of source material available to students of early modern history.
During this period, political developments, economic and social change, rising
literacy levels, and the success of the printing press ensured that the State,
the Church, and the people generated texts and objects on an unprecedented
scale. This book introduces students to the sources that survived to become
indispensable primary material studied by historians.
After a wide-ranging introductory chapter, Part I of the book, ‘Sources’,
takes the reader through seven key categories of primary material, including
governmental, ecclesiastical and legal records, diaries and literary works,
print, and visual and material sources. Each chapter addresses how different
types of material were produced, whilst also pointing readers towards the
most important and accessible physical and digital source collections. Part II,
‘Histories’, takes a thematic approach. Each chapter in this section explores
the sources that are used to address major themes in early modern history,
including political and popular cultures, the economy, science, religion,
gender, warfare, and global exploration.
This collection of chapters by leading historians in their respective fields
showcases how practitioners research early modern history, and is an
invaluable resource for any student embarking on their studies of the early
modern period.
Laura Sangha is Lecturer in British History 1500–1700 at the University of
Exeter. Her publications include Angels and Belief in England, 1480–1700
(2012).
Jonathan Willis is Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of
Birmingham. His publications include Church Music and Protestantism in
Post-Reformation England (2010).
Routledge Guides to Using Historical Sources

How does the historian approach primary sources? How do interpretations
differ? How can such sources be used to write history?
The Routledge Guides to Using Historical Sources series introduces students
to different sources and illustrates how historians use them. Titles in the
series offer a broad spectrum of primary sources and, using specific examples,
examine the historical context of these sources and the different approaches
that can be used to interpret them.
Reading Primary Sources
Miriam Dobson and Benjamin Ziemann
History Beyond the Text
Sarah Barber and Corinna Penniston-Bird
History and Material Culture
Karen Harvey
Understanding Medieval Primary Sources
Joel Rosenthal
Memory and History: Understanding Memory as Source and Subject
Joan Tumblety
Understanding Early Modern Primary Sources
Laura Sangha and Jonathan Willis
Understanding Early Modern

Primary Sources
Edited by Laura Sangha and
Jonathan Willis
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Laura Sangha and Jonathan Willis for selection and editorial matter;
individual chapters, the contributors.
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material,
and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance
with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent
to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Names: Sangha, Laura, editor, author. | Willis, Jonathan P., editor, author.
Title: Understanding early modern primary sources / edited by
Laura Sangha and Jonathan Willis.
Description: London: Routledge, 2016. |
Series: The Routledge guides to using historical sources |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015047038 | ISBN 9781138823631 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781138823648 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315622101 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Europe–History–1492–1648–Sources. |
Europe–History–1492–1648–Historiography. | History–Methodology.
Classification: LCC D228.U53 2016 | DDC 940.2072–dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015047038
ISBN: 978-1-138-82363-1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-138-82364-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-62210-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Out of House Publishing
Contents

List of figures vii

List of tables ix

List of contributors x

Acknowledgements xiv

List of abbreviations xv
Introduction: understanding early modern primary sources 1

LAURA SANGHA AND JONATHAN WILLIS
PART I
Sources 15

1 State Papers and related collections 17

NATALIE MEARS
2 Legal and judicial sources 35

HENRY FRENCH
3 Ecclesiastical sources 58

JONATHAN WILLIS
4 Print 78

IAN GREEN
5 Literary sources 95

CERI SULLIVAN
6 Personal documents 107

LAURA SANGHA
7 Visual and material sources 129

TARA HAMLING
vi Contents
PART II
Histories 153

8 Gender 155

MERRY E. WIESNER-HANKS
9 Religion and religious change 170

ALEC RYRIE
10 Political culture(s) 187

JANET DICKINSON
11 Popular culture 206

MARK HAILWOOD
12 Economic life 224

BRODIE WADDELL
13 Warfare 240

NEIL YOUNGER
14 Early modern science 255

HELEN COWIE
15 The wider world 273

MARGARET SMALL
Index 288
Figures

1.1 Agnes Bowker’s Cat, MS Lansdowne 101/6
© The British Library Board. 23
2.1 Diagram showing the process of cases through the
criminal courts. 37
2.2 Diagram showing the process of cases through the
ecclesiastical courts. 45
2.3 Diagram showing the process of cases through the
equity courts. 48
3.1 A page from the churchwardens’ accounts of
St Mary Woolnoth, London © London Metropolitan
Archives, City of London. 64
4.1 Title page of John Jewel, A defense of the Apologie
of the Churche of Englande (1571) © Huntington Library,
California. 82
6.1 William Rawley’s miscellany, Lambeth Palace Library,
MS 2086, fo. 8r. Scriptorium: Medieval and Early Modern
Manuscripts Online. 111
6.2 Letter from George Plaxton to Ralph Thoresby, 22 February
1709. Reproduced by permmission of the Yorkshire
Archaeological Society. 120
7.1 Wooden bowl, beech, c. 1500–45 © The Mary Rose Trust. 130
7.2 View of interior of wooden bowl, showing personal markings
© The Mary Rose Trust. 131
7.3 The field of visual culture in early modern England. 134
7.4 Dish with the Temptation of Adam and Eve © Victoria and
Albert Museum, London. 142
7.5 Page from John Speed, The genealogies recorded in the Sacred
Scriptures according to every family and tribe with the line of
Our Savior Jesus Christ observed from Adam to the Blessed
Virgin Mary (London, 1616), University of Glasgow Library,
Sp. Coll. Eadie 33. 145
viii List of figures
7.6 Wall painting of the Temptation of Adam and Eve,
first-floor chamber of farmhouse ‘The Spring’ in Meadle,
Buckinghamshire, c. 1627. Photograph reproduced by
permission of English Heritage. 147
8.1 Urs Graf, Christ and the Apostles and the Holy Women
© National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. 160
9.1 Title page of The whole booke of psalmes: Collected into
English metre, with apt notes to sing them withal (Cambridge,
1623) © Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC. 174
10.1 Stained glass at Baddesley Clinton, Warwickshire © National
Trust Images/Chris Lacey, image reference 1054170. 192
10.2 Charles II touching a patient for the ‘King’s evil’ (scrofula)
surrounded by courtiers, clergy and general public.
Engraving by R. White © Wellcome Library, London. 198
11.1 Witness statement of Johane Lugge. Devon Heritage Centre,
Quarter Sessions Bundles, Box 5, Epiphany 1598. 210
11.2 Boors singing at a Window, by and published by John Smith,
after Adriaen van Ostade, after Egbert van Heemskerck the
Elder, 1706 © National Portrait Gallery, London. 214
12.1 Jan Luyken, Christelijke gevangenen worden op een plein te
Algiers als slaaf verkocht (1684) © Rijksmuseum,
Van Eeghen 618. 228
12.2 Great Melton overseers’ accounts, Norfolk Record Office,
EVL 645, not paginated (21 April 1690). 230
14.1 Andreas Vesalius, De humani corporis fabrica
© Wellcome Library, London. 258
14.2 Conrad Gessner, Historia animalium liber © Wellcome
Library, London. 259
14.3 Conradus Lycosthenes, Prodigiorum ac ostentorum Chronicon
© Wellcome Library, London. 259
14.4 Woodcut of the Wunderkammer room, from Ferrante
Imperato, Dell’historia natural © Wellcome Library, London. 264