Revolution remembered: Seditious memories after the British civil wars (Politics, Culture and Society in Early Modern Britain)

After the Restoration, parliamentarians continued to identify with the decisions to oppose and resist crown and established church. This was despite the fact that expressing such views between 1660 and 1688 was to open oneself to charges of sedition or treason. This book uses approaches from the field of memory studies to examine 'seditious memories' in seventeenth-century Britain, asking why people were prepared to take the risk of voicing them in public. It argues that such activities were more than a manifestation of discontent or radicalism - they also provided a way of countering experiences of defeat. Besides speech and writing, parliamentarian and republican views are shown to have manifested as misbehaviour during official commemorations of the civil wars and republic. The book also considers how such views were passed on from the generation of men and women who experienced civil war and revolution to their children and grandchildren. Following The Restoration Of Charles Ii And The Church Of England In 1660, It Seemed That The People Of Britain Were Ready To Put The Revolutionary Period Behind Them. Yet Despite A Regime Of Surveillance And Censorship, Parliamentarians And Republicans Continued To Identify With The Oppositional Spirit Of The Civil War, Brazenly Endorsing The Good Old Cause. This Book Explores Seditious Memories In Speech And Writing Between 1660 And 1688. It Shows How They Functioned As Points Of Resistance Within The Restoration's Politics Of Memory, Counteracting And Even Subverting Efforts By Royalists To Censure Those Who Had Opposed Crown And Established Church. Historians Have Tended To View Parliamentarian And Republican Ideas As The Preserve Of A Minority Of Malcontents, But Legal Records And Government Documents Reveal A Reservoir Of Sympathy Among Ordinary People. This Sympathy Was Manifested Both In Speech And In Misbehavior On The Official Anniversaries Of The Regicide And The Restoration. The Book Concludes By Examining How Seditious Memories Were Transmitted By A Generation Of Men And Women Who Had Experienced Was And Revolution To Their Children And Grandchildren. Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction: Remember The Good Old Cause -- Locating Seditious Memories In England And Wales -- The Politics Of Memory After The Restoration -- Seditious Memories: Contestation And Cultural Resistance -- Sharing Seditious Memories -- Seditious Memories In Scotland And Ireland -- Mis-commemoration After The Restoration -- Seditious Memories Across Generations -- Conclusion: Burying The Good Old Cause -- Select Bibliography -- Index. Edward Legon. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Parliamentarians continued to identify with the decisions to oppose and resist Crown and established church after the Restoration. By expressing these views between 1660 and 1688, these men and women were vulnerable to charges of sedition or treason. This book examines these ‘seditious memories’ and asks why people risked themselves by expressing them in public. It does so without dismissing such views as evidence of discontent or radicalism, showing instead how they countered experiences of defeat. As well as speech and writing, these views are shown to have manifested themselves as misbehavior during official commemoration of the civil wars and republic. It also considers how such views were passed on from the generation of men and women who experienced civil war and revolution to their children and grandchildren. After the Restoration, parliamentarians continued to identify with the decisions to oppose and resist crown and established church. This was despite the fact that expressing such views between 1660 and 1688 was to open oneself to charges of sedition or treason. This text uses approaches from the field of memory studies to examine 'seditious memories' in seventeenth-century Britain, asking why people were prepared to take the risk of voicing them in public. It argues that such activities were more than a manifestation of discontent or radicalism - they also provided a way of countering experiences of defeat This book examines ‘seditious memories’ in the Restoration period. It reveals the social depth of opposition to the Stuarts and the Church of England, and asks why people were prepared to take the risk of voicing their resistance in public. -- .