Defending the Revolution
Defending the Revolution

Author: Jeffrey Stephen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-05-13

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 1317153634

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688-90 played a fundamental role in re-shaping the political, religious and cultural map of the British Isles. Yet, as this book demonstrates, many key elements of the history of the period between the landing of William of Orange and the establishment of the Union between Scotland and England, remain shadowy. In particular, the religious and theological underpinnings of the Revolution in Scotland have received scant attention compared to discussions of events in England, and Ireland. This book sets out to show how the religious dimension of the revolution settlement in Scotland while comprehensively Presbyterian, was not inevitable, revealing instead the degree of political and religious pressure that was brought to bear in order to press for a moderate settlement that took cognizance of the Episcopalian position. However, the outcome demonstrated the ability of Presbyterians to respond to the changing political circumstances and seize the opportunities they offered, enabling them to galvanise their support within parliament and secure a settlement that went beyond what William and Erastian-inclined Presbyterians would have preferred. Traditionally, treatment of the religious outcome in Scotland has been restricted to a bare narration of the significant acts of parliament - this book takes a more thorough and critical approach to explain not only the nature of the final settlement but how it was achieved, and the legacy it left for both Scotland and the newly forged British state.

The Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature, 1500-1700
The Oxford Handbook of English Law and Literature, 1500-1700

Author: Lorna Hutson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 833

ISBN-13: 0199660883

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This Handbook triangulates the disciplines of history, legal history, and literature to produce a new, interdisciplinary framework for the study of early modern England. For historians of early modern England, turning to legal archives and learning more about legal procedure has seemed increasingly relevant to the project of understanding familial and social relations as well as political institutions, state formation, and economic change. Literary scholars and intellectual historians have also shown how classical forensic rhetoric formed the basis both of the humanist teaching of literary composition (poetry and drama) and of new legal epistemologies of fact-finding and evidence evaluation. In addition, the post-Reformation jurisdictional dominance of the common law produced new ways of drawing the boundaries between private conscience and public accountability. This Handbook brings historians, literary scholars, and legal historians together to build on and challenge these and similar lines of inquiry. Chapters in the Handbook consider the following topics in a variety of combinations: forensic rhetoric, poetics and evidence; humanist and legal learning; political and professional identities at the Inns of Court; poetry, drama, and visual culture; local governance and legal reform; equity, conscience, and religious law; legal transformations of social and affective relations (property, marriage, witchcraft, contract, corporate personhood); authorial liability (libel, censorship, press regulation); rhetorics of liberty, slavery, torture, and due process; nation, sovereignty, and international law (the British archipelago, colonialism, empire).