Local Negotiations of English Nationhood, 1570-1680 (Early Modern Literature in History)

"Even in an age of emerging nationhood, English men and women still thought very much in terms of their parishes, towns, and counties. This book examines the vitality of early modern local consciousness and its deployment by writers to mediate the larger political, religious, and cultural changes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries"-- Provided by publisher Local Negotiations explores the vitality of early modern local consciousness. Even in an age of emerging nationhood, English men and women were still profoundly influenced by--and even drew their primary identity from--the parish, the town, and the county. This book examines how early modern writers invoke local places, traditions, and ways of thinking to respond to the larger political, religious, and cultural changes of the period. The opening chapter establishes the historical basis of local identity and describes the ways in which it was transformed in the second half of the sixteenth century. Each of the succeeding five chapters then focuses on a particular author and historical moment, and explores how local habits of thought are invoked to respond to a specific national initiative (political centralization, religious uniformity, court culture, civil war, and empire). Together, these chapters illustrate both the pervasiveness of local discourse and the range of possible responses to nationhood that it engendered Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 List of Illustrations and Maps 9 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 1 Local Consciousness in Renaissance England 15 2 William Lambarde and Tudor Centralization 62 3 Michael Drayton and Jacobean Court Culture 85 4 George Herbert and Caroline Religious Uniformity 107 5 Izaak Walton, Lucy Hutchinson, and the Experience of Civil War 131 6 The Country House Poem and the Localization of Empire 165 Conclusion 190 Notes 193 Select Bibliography 229 Index 237 Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction....Pages 1-3 Local Consciousness in Renaissance England....Pages 4-50 William Lambarde and Tudor Centralization....Pages 51-73 Michael Drayton and Jacobean Court Culture....Pages 74-95 George Herbert and Caroline Religious Uniformity....Pages 96-119 Izaak Walton, Lucy Hutchinson, and the Experience of Civil War....Pages 120-153 The Country House Poem and the Localization of Empire....Pages 154-178 Conclusion....Pages 179-181 Back Matter....Pages 182-238