Reading and politics in early modern England: The mental world of a seventeenth-century Catholic gentleman

by Geoff Baker, Peter Lake (Editor), Anthony Milton (Editor), Jason Peacey (Editor), Alexandra Gajda (Editor)

Overview

This book examines the activities of William Blundell, a seventeenth-century Catholic gentleman, and using the approaches of the history of reading, provides a detailed analysis of his mindset.

Blundell was neither the passive victim nor the entirely loyal subject that he and others have claimed. He actively defended his family from the penal laws and used the relative freedom that this gave him to patronise other Catholics. Not only did he rewrite the histories of recent civil conflicts to show that Protestants were prone to rebellion and Catholics to loyalty, but we also find a different perspective on his religious beliefs. Blundell’s commonplaces suggest an underlying tension with aspects of Catholicism, a tension manifest throughout his notes on his practical engagement with the world, in which it is clear that he was wrestling with the various aspects of his identity.

This is an important study that will be of interest to all who work on the early modern period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780719091247
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	10/31/2013
Series:	Politics, Culture and Society in Early Modern Britain
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	260
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Geoff Baker is Senior Academic Advisor at the Centre for Integrative Learning, University of Nottingham

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I:
1. William Blundell’s family and friends
2. William Blundell and the wider world
Part II:
3. Reading and the construction of commonplaces
4. Reading the confessional divide in early modern England
5. A Catholic approach to the world
Conclusion
Appendix: Map of Little Crosby and surrounding area
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

'a gripping, sensitive, and insightful account of its subject, which manages at once to enhance and to challenge many ideas found within the existing canon of “recusant history".'
Gabriel Glickman, Journal of British Studies, Vol. 51 No. 4

'Reading and Politics shines a light on a significant and under-used source, and it may be hoped that it will point the way for social and cultural historians to exploit the potential of the Blundell papers.'
Lucy Underwood, The Catholic Historical Review, vol. 99 (2)

From the Publisher