Covenanting Citizens : The Protestation Oath and Popular Political Culture in the English Revolution

__Covenanting Citizens__ throws new light on the origins of the English civil war and on the radical nature of the English Revolution. An exercise in writing the 'new political history', the volume challenges the discrete categories of high and popular politics and the presumed boundaries between national and local history. It offers the first full study of the Protestation, the first state oath to be issued under parliamentary authority. The politics behind its introduction into Parliament, it argues, challenges the idea that the drift to civil war was unintended or accidental. Used as a loyalty oath to swear the nation, it required those who took it to defend king, church, parliament, and England's liberties. Despite these political commonplaces, the Protestation had radical intentions and radical consequences. It envisaged armed resistance against the king, and possibly more. It became a charter by which parliament felt able to fight a civil war and it was used to raise men, money, and political support. Requiring resistance against enemies that might include a king himself contemplating the use of political violence, the Protestation offered a radical extension of membership of the political nation to those hitherto excluded by class, age, or gender. In envisaging new forms of political mobilisation, the Protestation promoted the development of a parliamentary popular political culture and ideas of active citizenry. __Covenanting Citizens__ demonstrates how the Protestation was popularly appropriated to legitimise an agency expressed in street politics, new forms of mass petitioning, and popular political violence. Cover 1 Covenanting Citizens: The Protestation Oath and Popular Political Culture in the English Revolution 4 Copyright 5 Acknowledgements 6 Contents 8 Abbreviations and Conventions 10 Introduction 12 1: Parliamentary Politics and the Making of the Protestation 18 The Parliamentary Politics of the Protestation’s Introduction 19 Interpreting the Protestation 47 2: Popular Politics and the Making of the Protestation 61 MAY DAYS: POPULAR POLITICS AND THE INTRODUCTION OF THE PROTESTATION 62 THE FAILURE OF A BILL TO SWEAR THE NATION 74 THE JANUARY CRISIS: STREET POLITICS AND THE REISSUE OF THE PROTESTATION 79 3: Debating the Protestation 91 Preaching the Protestation 92 Appropriating the Protestation: The Protestation Protested 103 Contesting the Protestation 106 The Protestation and Resistance Theory 119 4: Swearing the Nation: Administering the Protestation 124 Taking the Protestation in the City, 1641: City Radicals, Parish Activists, and the ‘City Orders’ 124 Taking the Protestation in the Country,1641: Radical Networks, Parish Politics, and Proto-Parliamentarianism 131 Swearing the Nation in 1642: The Political Geography of Subscription 149 5: Taking the Protestation 164 Tendering the Protestation 165 Representing The Protestation : Sacred Space and The Political Calendar of Protestantism 168 Clerical Opposition 176 Taking The Protestation in The Parishes 178 Refusing the Protestation 181 Subscribing the Protestation 185 The Politics of Reception: Political Identity, Parliament, and Popular Political Culture 190 Recusancy and Refusal: A Catholic Exclusion Crisis 194 The Protestation and The Early Modern Culture of Oath-Taking 200 6: Performing the Protestation 208 The Protestation as Speech act: Political Agency and Popular ‘Office’ 208 Chalenging Patriarchy: Gender, Youth, and the Protestation 211 Popular Agency: The Politics of Prayer and the Protestation 218 Popular Agency: Policing the Protestation 221 Popular Petitioning and the Protestation 224 Religious Violence and the Protestation 229 Political Mobilization and the Protestation 236 Political Violence and the Protestation 241 Fighting for the Protestation: Parliament and the People 250 Conclusion: Covenanting Citizens, Enacting a Nation 255 THE AFTERLIFE OF THE PROTESTATION 255 COVENANTING CITIZENS: THE PROTESTATION, EARLY MODERN PUBLIC SPHERE, AND ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP 261 Index 274 A New Take On The Origins Of The English Civil War And English Revolution, Offering A Study Of The Protestation, The First State Oath To Be Issued Under Parliamentary Authority Swearing Loyalty To King And Country, But With The Radical Outcome Of Offering A Political Voice To Those Hitherto Excluded By Class, Age Or Gender. John Walter. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A new take on the origins of the English civil war and English Revolution, offering the first full study of the Protestation, the first state oath to be issued under parliamentary authority, swearing loyalty to king and country, but with the radical outcome of offering a political voice to those hitherto excluded by class, age, or gender.