Loyalty to the Monarchy in Late Medieval and Early Modern Britain, c.1400-1688

This book explores the place of loyalty in the relationship between the monarchy and their subjects in late medieval and early modern Britain. It focuses on a period in which political and religious upheaval tested the bonds of loyalty between ruler and ruled. The era also witnessed changes in how loyalty was developed and expressed. The first section focuses on royal propaganda and expressions of loyalty from the gentry and nobility under the Yorkist and early Tudor monarchs, as well as the fifteenth-century Scottish monarchy. The chapters illustrate late-medieval conceptions of loyalty, exploring how they manifested themselves and how they persisted and developed into early modernity. Loyalty to the later Tudors and early Stuarts is scrutinised in the second section, gauging the growing level of dissent in the build-up to the British Civil Wars of the seventeenth century. The final section dissects the role that the concept of loyalty played during and after the Civil Wars, looking at how divergent groups navigated this turbulent period and examining the ways in which loyalty could be used as a means of surviving the upheaval.-- Provided by publisher Acknowledgements 5 Contents 6 Notes on Contributors 9 Abbreviations 12 Chapter 1: Introduction: Loyalty to the Monarchy in Late Medieval and Early Modern Britain 13 Loyalty in History 14 Loyalty in Historiography 16 The Contribution of This Book 18 Part I: Loyalty to Late Medieval and Early Tudor Monarchs 24 Chapter 2: Tiltyard Friendships and Bonds of Loyalty in the Reign of Edward IV, 1461–1483 25 Chapter 3: ‘I claim no right but would this land defend’: Loyalty to the Institution of Kingship in Blind Hary’s The Wallace 46 Chapter 4: Political Dialogue, Exchange, and Propaganda: Or, How Yorkist and Early Tudor Governments Managed Public Opinion, c. 1461–1537 69 Introduction 69 Dialogue and Exchange 72 Pretend Dialogue 78 Conclusion 84 Chapter 5: ‘Towards God religious, towards us most faithful’: The Paulet Family, the Somerset Gentry and the Early Tudor Monarchy, 1485–1547 93 Introduction 93 The Paulet Family 95 The Balance of Power 98 Rebellion 99 Loyalty 103 Religion 106 Conclusion 108 Chapter 6: Dedicated to Loyalty: Book Dedications to King Henry VIII 115 Loyalty to Themselves 116 Loyalty to the Crown 119 Loyalty to Religion 122 Conclusion 126 Part II: Loyalty to the Later Tudors and Early Stuarts 132 Chapter 7: Not ‘to Confound Predicaments’: Loyalty and the Common Law, c. 1400–1688 133 ‘As You Know the Storie of Storie’ 136 ‘The Case No Feigned or Framed...’ 146 Conclusion 150 Epilogue 150 Chapter 8: Elizabeth I and the Dilemma of Loyalty 155 Chapter 9: Loyalty to a Nero? Publicising Puritan Persecution in the 1630s 172 Paul, Nero, and Christian Persecution in English Discourse 174 To ‘Cloath Them in Roman Buffe’ 179 Histrio-Mastix and the Neronian Charles 184 Conclusion 189 Chapter 10: ‘We have a good king and our imaginations ought to be good to him’: Divided Loyalties Forced on East Midlands Sheriffs, 1580–1640 196 Introduction 196 The Succession of James I 202 The Stuarts, Parliament and the Law 206 Part III: Loyalty, Civil War and Restoration in the Seventeenth Century 214 Chapter 11: ‘You may take my head from my shoulders, but not my heart from my soveraigne’: Understanding Scottish Royalist Allegiance During the British Civil Wars, 1639–1651 215 Introduction 215 Scholarship 217 The Royalist Covenants 219 Duty and Honour 225 Legality 227 Stability and Order 228 Pragmatism, Local Interest and Shifting Allegiance 230 Conclusion 231 Chapter 12: Loyalty, Disloyalty, and the Coronation of Charles II 235 I 235 II 238 III 245 IV 248 V 251 Chapter 13: Loyalty and Insecurity in Charles II’s Virginia 257 Restoration and Rebellion 257 Navigation and Taxation 261 Compassion and Contempt 265 Conclusion 268 Chapter 14: Repeated Testimonies of Duty and Affection: Constructing Loyalty in Cornwall and South-West Wales, 1681–1685 277 A Loyalist Veil: Loyal Addresses and Partisan Divisions 280 The Fruits of Loyalty: Charles II’s Campaign Against the Corporations 286 Conclusion: Loyalty and the Reign of James II 291 Index 300 Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Introduction: Loyalty to the Monarchy in Late Medieval and Early Modern Britain (Matthew Ward, Matthew Hefferan)....Pages 1-11 Front Matter ....Pages 13-13 Tiltyard Friendships and Bonds of Loyalty in the Reign of Edward IV, 1461–1483 (Emma Levitt)....Pages 15-35 ‘I claim no right but would this land defend’: Loyalty to the Institution of Kingship in Blind Hary’s The Wallace (Callum Watson)....Pages 37-59 Political Dialogue, Exchange, and Propaganda: Or, How Yorkist and Early Tudor Governments Managed Public Opinion, c. 1461–1537 (Wesley Corrêa)....Pages 61-84 ‘Towards God religious, towards us most faithful’: The Paulet Family, the Somerset Gentry and the Early Tudor Monarchy, 1485–1547 (Simon Lambe)....Pages 85-106 Dedicated to Loyalty: Book Dedications to King Henry VIII (Valerie Schutte)....Pages 107-123 Front Matter ....Pages 125-125 Not ‘to Confound Predicaments’: Loyalty and the Common Law, c. 1400–1688 (Michael A. Heimos)....Pages 127-148 Elizabeth I and the Dilemma of Loyalty (Janet Dickinson)....Pages 149-165 Loyalty to a Nero? Publicising Puritan Persecution in the 1630s (Jamie Gianoutsos)....Pages 167-190 ‘We have a good king and our imaginations ought to be good to him’: Divided Loyalties Forced on East Midlands Sheriffs, 1580–1640 (Richard Bullock)....Pages 191-208 Front Matter ....Pages 209-209 ‘You may take my head from my shoulders, but not my heart from my soveraigne’: Understanding Scottish Royalist Allegiance During the British Civil Wars, 1639–1651 (Andrew Lind)....Pages 211-230 Loyalty, Disloyalty, and the Coronation of Charles II (Edward Legon)....Pages 231-252 Loyalty and Insecurity in Charles II’s Virginia (John Ruston Pagan)....Pages 253-272 Repeated Testimonies of Duty and Affection: Constructing Loyalty in Cornwall and South-West Wales, 1681–1685 (James Harris)....Pages 273-295 Back Matter ....Pages 297-302 "This book explores the place of loyalty in the relationship between the monarchy and their subjects in late medieval and early modern Britain. It focuses on a period in which political and religious upheaval tested the bonds of loyalty between ruler and ruled. The era also witnessed changes in how loyalty was developed and expressed. The first section focuses on royal propaganda and expressions of loyalty from the gentry and nobility under the Yorkist and early Tudor monarchs, as well as the fifteenth-century Scottish monarchy. The chapters illustrate late-medieval conceptions of loyalty, exploring how they manifested themselves and how they persisted and developed into early modernity. Loyalty to the later Tudors and early Stuarts is scrutinised in the second section, gauging the growing level of dissent in the build-up to the British Civil Wars of the seventeenth century. The final section dissects the role that the concept of loyalty played during and after the Civil Wars, looking at how divergent groups navigated this turbulent period and examining the ways in which loyalty could be used as a means of surviving the upheaval."--Back cover