English History, 1558-1640: A Bibliographical Survey

Author(s): Perez Zagorin

Source: The American Historical Review, Vol. 68, No. 2 (Jan., 1963), pp. 364-384
Published by: American Historical Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1904537
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EnglishHistory,1558-1640:A Bibliographical
Survey
PEREZZAGORIN*

MY purpose in the following pages is to take a selective view of the writings

on Elizabethan and early Stuart history, which have appeared within the
past two decades or so.1 Brief as this period is, and despite the interruption to
historical scholarship caused by almost six years of war, there can be no
doubt that the study of the age lying between the accession of Queen Eliza-
beth I and the meeting of the Long Parliament has never been in so flourish-
ing a state.2 It seems likely that more research is now devoted to it, in
proportion to other parts of English history, than ever before. Unfamiliar
areas have been explored, fresh problems propounded, and new methods of
investigation applied. Established views, hallowed for years by an apostolic
succession of clich6s, have been deprived of orthodoxy. While an increasing
number of younger scholars have dedicated themselves to profitable work in
the field, the fundamental contributions resulting from the researches of
some of our veteran historians show that there are still giants in the land.3

I shall begin with political and constitutional history, as it is here that

some of the outstanding advances have been achieved. For the reign of
Elizabeth, no work of recent years stands higher in importance than the
*Mr. Zagorin is associate professor at McGill University. He is interested in sixteenth- and
seventeenth-centuryBritish and European history and has written A History of Political Thought
in the English Revolution (London, I954).
1 This article is one of a series of bibliographical studies sponsored by the Conference
on British Studies under the editorship of Elizabeth Chapin Furber. Those already published
are Philip D. Curtin, "The British Empire and Commonwealth in Recent Historiography,"
American Historical Review, LXV (Oct. I959), 72-9I; Maurice duP. Lee, Jr., "Scottish History
Since I940," CanadianHistorical Review, XL (Dec. I959), 3I9-32; Henry R. Winkler, "Some
Recent Writings on Twentieth-CenturyBritain,"Journalof Modern History, XXXII (Mar. I960),
32-47; Lacey B. Smith, "The 'Taste for Tudors' Since I940," Studies in the Renaissance, VII
(Sept. I960), I67-83; Paul H. Hardacre, "Writings on Oliver Cromwell Since 1929," Journal
of Modern History, XXXIII (Mar. I96I), I-14; Margaret Hastings, "High History or Hack
History: England in the Later Middle Ages," Speculum, XXXVI (Apr. I96I), 225-53; Robert
Walcott, "The Later Stuarts (I660-1714): Significant Work of the Last Twenty Years (I939-
I959)," AmericanHistoricalReview, LXVII (Jan. I962), 352-70.
2 An estimate of the trends and opportunities in Tudor and Stuart scholarship is contained
in the report of a conference held at the Folger Shakespeare Library to commemorate the
fourth centenary of Queen Elizabeth's accession. (See Tudor and Stuart History [Washington,
D. C., i959].)
8 A full listing of works on the Tudor period up to I957, with a brief sampling of a few
that appeared thereafter,will be found in the second edition of Bibliography of British History:
Tudor Period, 1485-I603, ed. Conyers Read (2d ed., New York, I959). About 2,500 titles have
been added to this new edition over the first, which appeared in 1933. A second edition of
Bibliography of British History: Stuart Period, 1603-1714, ed. Godfrey Davies (Oxford, Eng.,
1928), is announced and will appear under the editorship of Professor Mary F. Keeler.

364
 English History, I558-I640 365
masterlyvolumesin which ProfessorSir John Neale first told the full story
of the ElizabethanCommons.The first, The ElizabethanHouse of Com-
mons (London, I949), anatomizesthe lower house as an institution.The
typesand qualityof membersare depicted,a numberof electionsin county
and boroughdescribed,and procedureexplained.Neale conclusivelyanswers
in the negativethe questionwhetherthe governmentpackedthe House, and
he shows how the normal processesof election operatedwithout much
deliberateinterventionto assurethe courta substantialrepresentation
in Parlia-
ment. The remainingtwo volumes,ElizabethI and Her Parliaments,I559-
I58I (London,I953), and ElizabethI and Her Parliaments,I584-i6oi (Lon-
don, I957), form a consecutivenarrativeof the parliamentary historyof the
reign.Neale used a large quantityof new materialin constructinghis great
study. He assembledfresh data on ElizabethanM.P.'s.New speechesand
privatemembers'journalsof proceedingshave come to light, so that Sir
SimondsD'Ewes'sJournalhas ceasedto be the sourcepar excellencefor the
parliamentary transactionsof these years.4It is very much to be hoped that
the mostimportantof thesejournals,such as thosefor I572, will be published
in extenso.5
The picture of Parliament that Neale has painted is not only far richer
in detail and more dense with life than any before: it also materially alters
the conception previously held respecting the development of the Commons.
Most significant, it has revealed that the extent of organized opposition to
the government's measures was very much stronger in the earlier years of
the reign than had been realized. The notion that Parliament raised itself
to defy the Queen only when the country had been released from the Spanish
danger after I588 must be definitely discarded. As the new evidence makes
plain, apprehension over the succession, patriotic wrath against Mary Stuart,
and dislike of Elizabeth's politique policy led members into frequent collisio'n
with the Queen from the I560's onward. Neale finds the mainspring of this
opposition in the Puritan members. It was they, he says, who "taught the
House of Commons . . . the art of opposition, which might be considered
the outstanding contribution of the Elizabethan period to Parliamentary
history...." '

4 Sir Simonds D'Ewes, The journals of All the Parliaments during the Reign of Queen
Elizabeth (London, I682).
5 Neale describes the journal of this Parliament kept by Thomas Cromwell as rivaling in
interest and importance that of Heywood Townshend (Heywood Townshend, Historical Collec-
tions, An Exact Account of the Last Four Parliaments of Elizabeth [London, i68o]) for the
Parliament of i6oi and remarks that another anonymous journal for I572 is almost as valuable
as Cromwell's.(SeeNeale,ElizabethI andHer Parliaments, 1559-158I, 243.)
6 Id.,ElizabethI and Her Parliaments,
1584-I60I, 436.
366 Perez Zagorin
Despite the breadthof Neale'ssynthesisand the firmnessof many of his
conclusions,numerousaspectsof parliamentaryhistory still await investi-
gation, and certainproblemscontinueto perplex.Some importantstatutes
of the reign,for example,are barelytouchedin his work, though one may
surmisethat new informationcould now be presentedon their passagein
the House. The descriptionof the compositionof the Commons,trenchant
and artfulas it is, is only an outline.By meansof the biographicalapproach,
muchmorecanbe doneto analyzethe characteristics of the memberssocially,
economically,and in otherways.Here we shall have to awaitthe appearance
of the great historyof Parliamentnow in progress.Neale is himself the di-
rectorof the Elizabethansectionand has said that his period will contain
the biographiesof about2,700 members,most of them not includedin the
Dictionaryof National Biography.7Finally, there is the crucialquestionof
oppositionin the House.Neale'semphasison the roleof the Puritanmembers
is undoubtedlyjustified.They must be regardedas the prototypeof the
Countryoppositionwhich took shapein the next reign,the germ of the first
politicalmovementin modernEnglishhistory,which was to be morethan a
factionbecauseit was foundednot as the following of a great man but on
the basis of policy and principles.But when the Elizabethanoppositionis
consideredin the perspectiveof the sixteenthcenturyas a whole, the ques-
tion necessarilyarisesas to the basisof the resistanceto the crown so mani-
fest at times beforeElizabeth'saccession.Neale has referred,for instance,to
severalremarkableepisodesin Mary'sParliamentsas very importantin this
respect.8What, since it was presumablynot Puritanism,had the leadersof
this resistancein common with their fellows in Elizabeth'sParliaments?
Was it mainly a concernfor their pursesthat produced,such a crossingof
the government'swill? Does the gentrymembers'independenceof the court,
as well as Puritanism,help to explainthe oppositionto Elizabeth,as earlier
to Mary?The whole subject,it would seem, must be consideredfurtherbe-
forewe canfeel thatwe haveall the clues.
For the reigns of JamesI and CharlesI, nothing exists comparableto
Neale's work, and a historyof the Parliamentsbetween I604 and I629, in
which the themes are the evolutionof the Commonsas an institutionand
the formationof the oppositionmovement,has still to be written. In the
meantimeone must continueto refer for a general picturemainly to Pro-
fessorWallaceNotestein'sfamouspaper,"The Winning of the Initiativeby
the House of Commons"(Proceedingsof the British Academy [London,
7 See Tudor and StuartHistory, 9.
8 Neale, Elizabeth I and Her Parliaments,1559-58z, 2I-26.
 English History, 1558-I640 367
I924-25], I25-75), on individual
eked out by severalrecentmonographs
Parliamentsand particularaspectsof parliamentary development.David H.
Willson'sinvaluableThe Privy Councillorsin the House of Commons,r604-
1629 (Minneapolis,Minn., ig4o), is a definitivedescriptionof the role of the
councilorsand the declineof theirinfluenceoverproceedingsas leadershipin
the House passedfrom them to privatemembersin the opposition.Harold
Hulme, Sir John Eliot, 1592 to 1632: Strugglefor ParliamentaryFreedom
(New York, I957), gives much detail on parliamentarytransactionsin the
I620's. Thomas L. Moir, The Addled Parliamentof i6I4 (Oxford, Eng.,
I958), presentsa good accountof that abortivetwo-monthmeeting and sets
it in the context of more long-rangeparliamentarydevelopment.He also
providesinformativeappendixeson the membershipof bothhouses.Williams
M. Mitchell'sThe Rise of the RevolutionaryPartyin the English House of
Commons,160o3I629 (New York,I957), bearsa mosttantalizing title,butis
unfortunatelymarkedby seriousinadequacies.It offerssome interestingre-
markson the continuityof oppositionmembersfrom Parliamentto Parlia-
ment and raisessome fundamentalquestionsthat it does little to answer.
A few recentarticlesrelatingto the parliamentaryaspectof this period
may also be noticed.An excellentstudy of Wiltshiremembersand elections
is StanleyT. Bindoff's"Parliamentary HistoryI5299i688" in VictoriaCounty
History,Wiltshire.'Hulme has shownhow the Commonsextendedits privi-
lege of freedomof speechin the earlierseventeenthcentury.'0On the basis
of newly found evidence,I. H. C. Frasereffectsa revisionof the traditional
narrativeof the tumultuousscene in the Commonson March2, i629. His
storymakesclearthat the conductof Eliot, Denzil Holles, and their friends
on that memorableday was even more audaciousthan had been thought."
ElizabethR. Foster describesthe way in which the Commonsbroughtthe
provocativesubjectof monopolieswithin the scope of its attackon griev-
ances.12The restorationof representationto certainboroughsby action of
the Commonsis carefullyconsideredby Evangelinede Villiers. As earlier
under Elizabeth,so also this increasein boroughrepresentationafter I62I
9 The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of Wiltshire, ed. R. B. Pugh
and Elizabeth Crittall (7 vols., London, 1953-57), V, IIIo70.
10 Harold Hulme, "The Winning of Freedom of Speech by the House of Commons,"
AmericanHistoricalReview, LXI (July I956), 825-53.
11 L H. C. Fraser, "The Agitation in the Commons, 2 March i629, and the Interrogation
of the Leaders of the Anti-Court Group," Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, XXX
(May 1957), 86-95.
12 Elizabeth R. Foster, "The Procedure of the House of Commons against Patents and
Monopolies, I62I-I624," in Conflict in Stuart England: Essays in Honour of WadlaceNote-
stein, ed. William A. Aiken and Basil D. Henning (New York, I960).
368 Perez Zagorin
was a result of the desire of local patrons and gentry for seats.13Lawrence
Stone has analyzed well the influence exercised in parliamentary elections
by the second Earl of Salisbury."4With this may be compared an earlier ac-
count of the electoral influence of two other great peers, the third and the
fourth Earls of Pembroke."5
Little progress has been made in recent years in the editing of original
materials pertaining to transactions in early Stuart Parliaments. A large
number of manuscript diaries of proceedings of the Commons kept by pri-
vate members is known, and the publication of the more important of these
is an urgent requirement of scholarship. They ought to be printed even if
they cannot be provided with the copious apparatusand notes that distinguish
the great edition of the Commons' debates of I62I by Notestein and his col-
laborators.'6For the House of Lords-one of the really neglected topics in
the writings on parliamentaryhistory-Evangeline de Villiers has published
some fragments of a journal of the I62I Parliament kept by the fifth Earl of
Huntingdon. This includes the only known firsthand account of an im-
portant speech deliveredby King James to the upper house.'7
The discussion of the literature for the period after i640 belongs to the
bibliography of the English Revolution and is beyond our present scope.
Two works, however, dealing with members of the Long Parliament happily
fall within our province. They are Mary F. Keeler, The Long Parlia,ment,
I640-I64I: A Biographical Study of Its Members (Philadelphia,I954), and
Douglas D. Brunton and Donald H. Pennington, Members of the Long
Parliament (London, I954). Though these two books in part cover the same
ground, they also usefully supplement each other and together form the in-
dispensablebasis for all future study of the personnel of this great Parliament.
Mrs. Keeler's book is a detailed portrait of the original members of the
Commons and contains much information on their political experience and
allegiance, their economic and social position, and their family connections.
It provides a biographical article on each member and includes a brief
account of the elections in every county and borough. Brunton and Pennington
extend their study to the men elected over the entire thirteen years of the
13 Evangeline de Villiers, "ParliamentaryBoroughs Restored by the House of Commons,
I62I-I641," EnglishHistoricalReview,LXVII(Apr. I952), I75-202; see Neale, Elizabethan
House of Commons, Chap. vII.
14 Lawrence Stone, "The Electoral Influence of the Second Earl of Salisbury, I6I4-68," Eng-
lish Historical Review, LXXI (July i956), 384-400.
15 Violet A. Rowe, "The Influence of the Earls of Pembroke on Parliamentary Elections,
I625-I641," ibid.,L (Apr. 1935), 242-56.
16 Commons Debates I621, ed. Wallace Notestein et al. (7 vols., New Haven, Conn., 1935).
17 The Hastings journal of the Parliament of I621, ed. Evangeline de Villiers, Camden
Miscellany,XX (I953) .
 English History, I5f58-I640 369
Long Parliamentand concentratemore stronglyon their socialand occupa-
tionalcharacter.Appendixesthat list the membersboth alphabetically and by
constituencyand analyzesome of their main featuresin statisticalform con-
stitutean extremelyusefulpartof theirwork.By meansof thesewritings,we
are able at last to see many membersof the Long Parliamentas individuals.
The whole story has thus becomefuller and far more interesting.At the
sametime, the main conclusionthatemergesis the substantialsocialsimilar-
ity, if not identity,of the memberswho opposedthe King and those who
supportedhim.
In other departmentsof politicaland constitutionalhistorythan the par-
liamentary,a numberof publicationsshouldbe mentioned.Additionshave
been madeto variouscollectionsof statepapersand other sources.The Acts
of thePrivyCouncilhave been augmentedby a furtherinstallmentcovering
July i628-April i629.18 An intervalof eighteenyears separatesthis volume
from its predecessorin the series.19Surely the Public Record Office and
other authoritieswho have shown such deplorableslowness in printing
the chief recordsin their care might find some means of acceleratingtheir
presentglacial rate of publication.A new volume, the first and only one
since i936, was publishedin I950 in the calendarof foreign state papersfor
Elizabeth'sreign with an informativeintroductionby the editor,Professor
ReginaldB. Wernham.20 There have alsobeen a few-a very few-additions
to the publicationsof the HistoricalManuscriptsCommissionrelatingto this
period.These,and most of the otherserialpublicationsof texts pertainingto
English historicalsubjects,can now best be found by consultingE. L. C.
Mullins'invaluableanalyticalguide to such works,which the Royal Histori-
cal Society has recently issued.2'
As regardsconstitutionaldocuments,a new selectioncoveringthe Tudor
age has been edited with commentaryby GeoffreyR. Elton.22This work
will probablytake the place held in the past by JosephR. Tanner'sTudor
ConstitutionalDocuments, I485-I603 (2d ed., Cambridge,Eng., ig3o), as the
principalcollectionfor purposesof teachingand reference.Althoughit omits
certaindocumentsfor which Tanner will still be consulted,it also contains
importantnew ones and is betterarranged.The vigorousand incisivecom-
mentary,often controversial,brings the discussionof outstandingquestions
18 Acts of the Privy Council of England I628 July-1629 April (London, I958).
19 Acts of the Privy Council of England I627 Sept.-1628 June (London, 1940).
20 Calendarof State Papers Foreign . . ., XXIII, Jan.-July, 1589, ed. Reginald B. Wernham
(London, I950). The preface to this volume contains an announcementthat the foreign calendar
is to be discontinued and replacedby a series of "descriptivelists."
21 Texts and Calendars:An Analytical Guide to Serial Publications (London, I958).
22 The Tudor Constitution,ed. GeoffreyR. Elton (Cambridge,Eng., I960).
370 Perez Zagorin
up to date. Among other texts recentlypublishedare William Lambarde's
Archeion: Or, A Discourseupon the High Courtsof Justicein England,
editedby CharlesH. McIlwainand Paul L. Ward (Cambridge,Mass.,I957),
and the historianWilliamCamden'sbrief"Discourseconcerningthe Preroga-
tive of the Crown,"editedby FrankS. Fussner.23
No modernscholarhas tried to write the historyof Elizabeth'sreign or
that of her two successorsin anythinglike the fullness of detail of James
Anthony Froude or Samuel Gardiner.While such an undertakingwould
doubtlessbe a work of supererogation, there is a pressingneed for histories
of theseperiods,composedon a smallerand more selectivescale,that will re-
flectthe presentstateof learningand present-dayinterests,correctold errors,
and give attentionto importantproblemsneglectedin the earlierliterature.
Perhapsthe time will not come for a synthesisof this kind, however,until
the analyticalpreoccupationthat presentlydominatesmost historicalwork
providesthe materialfor it in a fuller harvestof monographsand special
studies.There has been a strong tendencyrecentlyto blame historiansfor
excessive specializationand narrownessof interest. If some measure of
justicemust be concededto this charge,it must alsobe pointedout, first,that
in the best researchthe senseof the whole, and of the relationof the partto
the whole, is always present,and, second, that this concentrationon the
analysisof particulartopicsis really an expressionof the conscienceof the
historianrevoltingagainstsuperficialanswersand trite opinionsand deter-
minedby painstakinglaborto get at the truthof things.
An intimationof the sortof synthesisin politicalhistorywe may hope for
in the futureis providedin Neale'slecture,"TheElizabethanPoliticalScene"
(Proceedingsof the BritishAcademy,XXXIV [London,i948], 97-II7). This,
despiteits brevity,is one of the most penetratingtreatmentsof politicalin-
stitutionsand the nature of power at this time that has been written. Its
discussionof the court,patronage,and the factionalcharacterof politicssug-
gests fruitfullines of researchand pointsthe way to a profounderconception
of stateand societyin the sixteenthcentury.An interestingpaperexemplify-
ing a similar approachis Arthur H. Dodd, "North Wales in the Essex
Revolt of I6oI" (English Historical Review, LIX [Sept. 1944], 348-70).
Severalrecentmonographson administration arealsoof importance.Henry
E. Bell'sAn Introductionto the Historyand Recordsof the Courtof Wards
and Liveries(Cambridge,Eng., I953) is a modelaccountof the greatinstitu-
tion whoseexactionsso deeplyaffectedthe governingclass.It shouldbe stud-
23 William Camden, "Discourse concerning the Prerogative of the Crown," ed. Frank S.
of the AmericanPhilosophical
Fussner, Proceedings Society,CI (Apr. 1957), 204-15.
 English History, I558-I640 37I
ied in conjunctionwith JoelHurstfield,The Queen'sWardo:Wardshipand
MarriageunderElizabethI (London,I958), a good analysisof wardshipand
of the roleof the Courtof WardsunderElizabeth.For the reign of CharlesI,
GeraldE. Aylmer,The King'sServants:The CivilServiceof Charles1, 1625-
42 (London,i96i), is indispensable. It describesin almostsuperabundant de-
tail the natureof serviceunderthe crown,the socialoriginsand characterof
the officialbody, and the politicalsignificanceof officeholding. Its implica-
tions for the better understandingof politicsbefore and during the Civil
War are far reaching. One of the importantprerogativeinstrumentsof
the crown is treatedin Penry Williams, The Councilin the Marchesof
Wales underElizabethI (Cardiff,I958). Allegra Woodworth,Purveyance
for the Royal Householdin the Reign of Queen Eliza-beth(Philadelphia,
I945), offersa scholarlypictureof the administrative and financialaspectsof
the provisioningof the court and describesthe attemptto devise solutions
for the grievancesto which purveyancegave rise. GeoffreyR. Elton'sarticle
on the ElizabethanExchequeralsohas usefulbearingson politicsand institu-
tions. 4
Of generalworks concernedprincipallywith politicaland constitutional
matters,one of the best-known,JohnB. Black'sThe Reign of Elizabeth,1558-
i6o3 (Vol. VIII of The OxfordHistoryof England[Oxford,Eng., I936]), has
appearedwith some importantalterationsin a secondedition (Oxford,Eng.,
I959). StanleyT. Bindoff's briefTudor England (Harmondsworth, ig5o)
containsseveralsparklingchapterson the Elizabethanperiod.The companion
volume on the Stuartperiod by MauriceP. Ashley is somewhatdull and
The samemustbe saidfor GodfreyDavies'The EarlyStutarts,
prosaic.25 16o3-
i66o (Vol. IX of The OxfordHistoryof England[Oxford,Eng., I937; 2d ed.,
Oxford, Eng., i959]). C. Veronica Wedgwood, The King's Peace, I637-I64I
(London,i955), iS a well-writtenaccountof the lastyearsof CharlesI's reign
beforethe CivilWar.AlfredL. Rowse,The Englandof Elizabeth:The Struc-
ture of Society (London, I95I), discussespolitics and much else. Full of
learningand informedby a deeppoeticresponsiveness to the vanishedglories
of the sixteenthcentury,it is the bestpictureof the Elizabethanage. Conyers
Read'slife of Lord Burghley,the last work of a greatscholarrecentlypassed
from our midst,centersalmostwholly on politicalhistoryand foreignaffairs
24Geoffrey R. Elton, "The Elizabethan Exchequer: War in the Receipt," in Elizabethan
Governmentand Society: Essays Presentedto Sir John Neale (London, I96I). Except for Elton's
essay, I have seen none of the papers in this volume, which was not available to me when the
present article was written in May I96I. The various contributionsundoubtedly contain much
of importancefor the study of the period.
25 Maurice P. Ashley, England in the Seventeenth Century (Harmondsworth, I952).
372 Perez Zagorin
and has copious citations from documents.26 For foreign affairs, Garrett
Mattingly, The Defeat of the Armada (London, I959), gives a brilliant
account of international relations during the Anglo-Spanish war and
shrewdly describes the European context and ramifications of the great
struggle. Another useful but much less detailed treatment is that of Gaston
Zeller, Histoire des relations internationales,Volume II, Les temps modernes:
De Christophe Colomb a Cromwell (Paris, I953). No modern works exist
that concentrate exclusively on foreign affairs and present a full and con-
nected narrative of English relations, or the conditions governing them, with
other European states.27The history, for instance, of Anglo-Netherlands re-
lations under Elizabeth and James I has not yet been written, despite the
abundant documents that are available and the importance of the subject.
One hopes that future scholarshipwill turn its attention to this undeservedly
neglected topic.
Military history is another subject deserving of more attention. The
Armada naturally still remains the focus of interest, and Mattingly has a
fresh description of the battle in The Defeat of the Armada. C. G. Cruick-
shank, Elizabeth's Army (Oxford, Eng., i946), is a valuable study of mili-
tary organization. Cyril Falls, Elizabeth's Irish Wars (London, i95o), pro-
vides an excellent account of the campaigns connected with the Irish
rebellion. An illuminating presentation of the difficulties that governed
strategy and a defense of the Queen's policy in the operations of the Anglo-
Spanish war is given in Reginald B. Wernham, "Queen Elizabeth and the
Portugal Expedition of I589" (English Historical Review, LXVI [Jan.-Apr.
I95I], I-26, i94-2i8).

From things earthly, we pass to things heavenly and of the spirit, although
this may seem to be an infelicitous descriptionof the religious history of a period
that has been as bitterly fought over by scholars as have the preceding
reigns of Henry VIII, Edward, and Mary. Perhaps there are signs, how-
ever, that old animosities are giving way to mutual comprehension and
greater detachment. There is surely no reason why historians should wish
to wage again the struggle of enraged generations three and a half centuries
ago. Let us be thankful that the past, whose protagonists have long lain
mingled with dust, is over and done. The essence of tragedy is the conflict,
not of right against wrong, but of right against right. No one can
26 Conyers Read, Mr. Secretary Cecil and Queen Elizabeth (London,
i955), Lord Burghley
and Queen Elizabeth (London, ig6o).
27 Such writings as there are in this field are listed in Read, Bibliography
of British History:
Tudor Period, 65-85.
 English History, I_558-I640 373
gaze on the confessionalstrife of the sixteenth and seventeenthcen-
turies and not recognizeit as a tragic conflictin which compellingmoral
claims were to be found on all sides. No one can contemplatethe pre-
tensionsof the churchesof that unhappyage to religiousinfallibilitywithout
an ironicalawarenessof the delusionsthat gain an empire over men. The
historianmay, indeed he must, stigmatize persecutionand cruelty, guilt
and injustice.Yet before the terriblehatredsof denominationsand creeds,
nothing will sufficehim for understandingbut charityand irony, the twin
talismenhe must take with him as he passesthrough the scenesof anger
and carnagethat mark the courseof religionin Tudor and Stuarttimes.
The only recentwork offering a detailedecclesiasticalhistoryof Eliza-
beth'sreign is the third volume of Philip Hughes'sexcellentThe Reforma-
tion in England:"TrueReligion Now Established"(3 vols., London, I95I-
54). This is a judiciousand objectivenarrative,written from a Catholic
standpointand basedon wide studyof the printedmaterials.His Rome and
the Counter-Reformation in England (London, I942) is also valuableand
makes use of fresh manuscriptevidencefrom the VaticanLibraryand the
RomanCongregationDe PropagandaFide. The greatobscuritysurrounding
the statutorysettlementof religionin I559 has been largelyclearedaway in
Neale'sarticle,"TheElizabethanActs of Supremacyand Uniformity"(Eng-
lish HistoricalReview, LXV [July I950], 304-32). On the institutionalside
of the EstablishedChurch,the outstandingcontributionis ChristopherHill's
learnedEconomicProblemsof the Churchfrom ArchbishopWhitgift to the
Long Parliament(Oxford,Eng., I956). Followingto someextentthe fruitful
path of investigationopenedby RolandG. Usher, The Reconstruction of the
English Church (2 vols., New York, i910), Hill describeswith admirable
claritythe economicdifficultiesof the clergy,the forms of clericalincome
and the lay depredationsmade upon them, and shows how Laud'seffortto
restorethe statusof the clergy helped to provokerevolution.A few other
writings also treat the institutionalfunctioningof the church.F. D. Price
haspicturedthe declineof ecclesiasticaldisciplinein the dioceseof Gloucester
and also has discussedat length the work of the ecclesiasticalcommission
boththereand in Bristoldiocese.28 The Laudianchurchin Buckinghamshire
is describedwith the aid of visitationrecordsby E. R. C. Brinkworth.29
28 F. D. Price, "The Abuses of Excommunication and the Decline of
Ecclesiastical Dis-
cipline under Queen Elizabeth," English Historical Review, LVII (Jan. I942), io6-i5, and
"The Commission for EcclesiasticalCauses for the Dioceses of Bristol and Gloucester, I574,"
Transactionsof the Bristol and GloucestershireArchaeologicalSociety, LIX, I937.
29E. R. C. Brinkworth, "The Laudian Church in Buckinghamshire,"University of Birming-
ham Historicaljournal, V (No. I, I955), 3I-59.
374 Perez Zagorin
Variousdocumentspertainingto the workingof churchinstitutionshavebeen
published:episcopalregisters,dean and chapterrecords,and archidiaconal
and consistorycourt proceedings.Y0 Henry I. Longden has compiledbiog-
raphiesof hundredsof clergyin Northamptonshire and Rutland."'
Much attentionhas been directedto Puritanismin this periodand to the
argumentover churchgovernmentbetween the defendersand the enemies
of episcopacy.The best general survey of sixteenth-century Puritanismis
MarshallM. Knappen, Tudor Puritanism:A Chapterin the History of
Idealism(Chicago,I939). WilliamHaller'svaluableThe Rise of Puritanism,
or the Way to the New Jerusalemas Set Forth in Pulpit and Press from
Thomas Cartwrightto John Lilburneand John Milton, I570-I643 (New
York, I938), deals mainly with the earlier seventeenthcentury and con-
centrateson the teachingsof the clericalbrotherhoodof Puritan preachers.
Neither of these works has much to say aboutPuritanismas an organized
movementor aboutits lay patronsand adherents.This continuesto be the
most neglectedaspectof the subjectand is a very seriouslack that ought
to be filled.A lively accountof the Puritansand their criticsin Cambridge
Universityis presentedin H. C. Porter,Reformationand Reactionin Tudor
Cambridge(Cambridge,Eng., I95.8). Among the usefulmaterialin this book
is a long summaryof the theologyof William Perkins,which shows plainly
how verymuch Calvinismwas a doctrineof assuranceratherthan despair.82
On Puritantheologyand ideas generally,Perry Miller, The New England
Mind: The SeventeenthCentury(New York, I939), is fundamental.Other
writings concernedwith Puritanthought are LeonardJ. Trinterud,"The
Origins of Puritanism"(Church History, XX [Mar. I95I], 37-5I), which
stressesthe non-Calvinistsourcesof the covenanttheology,andAlan Simpson,
Puritanismin Old and New England (Chicago,I955), a work that appears
to exaggeratethe importanceof the apocalypticand enthusiastelement in
30 Some examples are: The Registers of . . . James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, I56I-76,
ed. Gladys Hinde, Surtees Society, CLXI, I952; Peterborough Local Administration . . . the
Dean and Chapter as Lord of the City, ed. William T. Mellows and Daphne H. Gifford,
NorthamptonshireRecord Society, XVIII, I956; The Archdeacon's Court: Liber Actorum, 1584,
ed. E. R. C. Brinkworth, Oxfordshire Record Society, XX, XXI, I942-46; Select x6th Century
Causes in Tithe from York Diocesan Registry, ed. John S. Purvis, Yorkshire Archaeological
Society, CXIV, I949; id., Tudor Parish Documents of the Diocese of York (Cambridge, Eng.,
I948); Winchester Consistory Court Depositions 1561-1602, ed. Arthur J. Willis (Lyminge,
I960).
81 Henry I. Longden, Northampton and Rutland Clergy, A.D. 1500-1900, Northamptonshire
RecordSociety,I6 vols.,I939-52.
32 Perkins is also discussed in Louis B. Wright, "William Perkins: Elizabethan Apostle of
PracticalDivinity," Huntington Library Quarterly,III (Jan. I940), I7I-96; Rosemary A. Sisson,
"William Perkins, Apologist for the Elizabethan Church of England," Modern Language Re-
view, XLVII (Oct. I952), 495-502; Hill, "WilliamPerkinsand the Poor,"
and Christopher
Puritanism and Revolution (London, I958). Hill's volume also contains an essay on another
great Puritanclergyman, "The Political Sermonsof John Preston."
 English History, I558-I640 375
Puritanbelief. A treatmentof the debateon episcopacycontaininga fine
analysisof the attitudeof the authoritiesof the EstablishedChurchis Norman
Sykes,Old Priestand New Presbyter(Cambridge,Eng., i956). EbenezerT.
Davies,Episcopacyand the Royal Supremacyin the Churchof Englandin
the xvi Century (Oxford, Eng., i950), summarizesthe teachings of the
Anglicanformularieson episcopacyand discussesthe statusof the episcopal
order.The sermonsdeliveredat Paul's Cross,some of the most famous of
which,such as RichardBancroft'sin I589, were attackson the Puritans,are
dealt with in Millar MacLure,The Paul's CrossSermons,I534-I642 (To-
ronto, I958). William P. Holden has surveyedsome of the contemporary
literaturecriticalof the Puritans in Anti-PuritanSatire, 1572-I642 (New
Haven, Conn., I954). The pointsof similaritybetweenthe Puritanand the
commonlawyers'oppositionto the Stuartsare discussedin familiartermsby
JohnD. Eusden,Puritans,Lawyers,and Politics in EarlySeventeenth-Cen-
turyEngland(New Haven,Conn.,I958).
The last yearshave seen the publicationof many importanttexts relating
to Puritanism.Donald J. McGinn, The Admonition Controversy(New
Brunswick,N. J., i949), offersa most useful abridgmentof the chief tracts
in the debatebetweenJohn Whitgift and Thomas Cartwright.One of the
principalcollectionsof documents,Puritan Manifestoes,edited by Walter
H. Frereand C. E. Douglas (London,I907), has been reprintedwith a pre-
face by Sykes (London, I954). The late Dr. Albert Peel and Leland H.
Carlsonhaveeditedtwo volumesof texts in the series"ElizabethanNoncon-
formistTexts":Cartwrightiana(London,I95I) and The Writingsof Robert
Harrisonand RobertBrowne (London, I953). Among works promisedin
this seriesfor the future is the indispensableA Parte of a Register.Some
manuscript pamphlets written by Bancroft against the Puritans have
appeared:TractsAscribedto'RichardBancroft,editedby Peel (Cambridge,
Eng., I953). One of the last of Peel's many servicesto Puritan studies
was The Notebook of John Penry, I593 (London, I944), the introduction
to which considers the question of the authorshipof the Marprelate
tracts without reachinga definite conclusion.In I943 they were ascribed
to Penry by Donald J. McGinn, "The Real Martin Marprelate"(PMLA,
LVIII [Mar. I943], 84-io7), and, more recently, to Job Throckmorton
by Neale.33The main documentsin the government'ssuccessful move
in I633 against the feoffees for impropriations-thePuritan effort to in-
filtrate the EstablishedChurch by buying up rights of patronage-are
33 Neale, Elizabeth I and Her Parliaments, 1584-1601, 220. Neale does not give much evi-
dence for this identification,and it must still remain an open question.
376 Perez Zagorin
printed in Activities of the Puritan Faction of the Church of England
I625-33, edited by Isabel Calder (London, I957). They should be read in
connectionwith ProfessorCalder'sarticle," A SeventeenthCenturyAttempt
to Purify the Anglican Church"(AmericanHistoricalReview, LIII [July
I948], 760-75), and with E. W. Kirby's"The Lay Feoffees:A Study in Mili-
tantPuritanism"(Journalof ModernHistory,XIV [Mar.1942], I-25).
RomanCatholicism,too, has been the subjectof importantpublicationin
the last years.On Catholicwritingsin the reigns of Elizabeth,James,and
Charles,therearenow two indispensable guides:A. C. Southern,Elizabethan
RecusantProse 1559-I582 (London and Glasgow, I950), which containsa
richlyannotatedbibliography,and AntonyF. Allison and David M. Rogers,
"A Catalogueof CatholicBooks in English, PrintedAbroador Secretlyin
England, I558-I640" (Biographical Studies, III [Jan.-Apr. i956], I-I87). A
new journal,BiographicalStudies,was foundedin i95i for the studyof Eng-
lish Catholichistoryand has continuedsince I957 under the title Recusant
History.Many articleson sixteenth-and early seventeenth-century Catholics
have appearedboth in this periodicaland in The Month.FatherLeo Hicks,
the authorof severalof these, has edited documentsrelatingto one of the
most extraordinarypersonalitiesof the time, the Jesuit, Robert Persons.34
The Latin autobiographiesof two Elizabethanpriests,John Gerard and
William Weston,have been translatedafreshby Philip Caraman.35

No aspectof Elizabethanand early Stuart historyhas been more dili-

gently cultivatedrecentlythan the social and economic.Here some of the
liveliestdiscussionhas ensued,and some of the most solid resultshave been
achieved.Mostprovocativeof debatehas been the questionof the rise of the
gentry,which is, of course,relatedto the whole problemof the evolutionof
the socialand economicorderbetweenI540 and I640 and,beyondthat,to the
nature of the English revolution.ProfessorRichard H. Tawney's famous
article,"The Rise of the Gentry, I558-I640," appearedin i94i (Economic
HistoryReview,XI [No. I, I94I], I-38) and was followedin I948 by Law-
rence Stone'saccountof the financialstraitsof the Elizabethanartistocracy
("The Anatomyof the ElizabethanAristocracy," EconomicHistoryReview,
XVIII [Nos. I-2, i948], I-53). ProfessorHugh R. Trevor-Roper's attackson
their views are containedin "The ElizabethanAristocracy:An Anatomy
Anatomized"(EconomicHistoryReview,2d Ser.,III [No. 3, I95I], 27g998)
84Letters and Memorials of Robert Persons, S.J., ed. Leo Hicks, Catholic Record Society,
XXXIX (London, 1942).
85 John Gerard, tr. Philip Caraman (London, I95I), and William Weston, tr. id. (London,
'955).
 English History, I5f58-I640 377
and The Gentry,I540-I640 (Cambridge,
Eng., i953). The whole contro-
versialliteratureof criticism,reply,counterreply,and commentaryis surveyed
and appraisedwith full referencesin two articlesby Perez Zagorin.36 Other
papersthatreviewthe debatein trenchanttermsareJackH. Hexter's"Storm
overthe Gentry"(Encounter,X [MayI958], 22-34), WillsonH. Coates,"An
Analysis of Major Conflictsin Seventeenth-Century England" (Conflict in
StuartEngland,ed. Aiken and Henning), and ChristopherHill, "RecentIn-
terpretations of the Civil War" (Puritanismand Revolution).
While it is too soon for any definitiveconclusionson the majorquestions
at issue, even in the presentstate of the discussionthree points may confi-
dentlybe ventured.First, no economichistorianhas concurredwith Trevor-
Roper'sopinion that the gentry as an order was in difficultiesin the later
sixteenthandearlyseventeenthcenturies.Indeed,recentstudiesof landowner-
ship such as Mary E. Finch's importantmonograph,The Wealth of Five
Northamptonshire Families1540-I640 (Oxford,Eng., I956), suggestprecisely
the contrary.Second, Trevor-Roperhas certainlyexposed some errorsof
Tawney and Stone. Third, his emphasison the significanceof court office
has openedan importantareaof inquiry,and the politicalorigin of the Eng-
lish revolutionis likely to be found, as he has proposed,in the conflictbe-
tween the court and the Countryoppositionformed largely of nonofficial
peersand gentry,though his conceptionof the latteras an economicallyde-
cliningbodyof "outsiders" is surelymistaken.
Otherwritingsof a less controversialcharacterpertainingto socialclasses
also have been published.Mildred Campbell,The English Yeoman under
Elizabethand the EarlyStuarts(New Haven,Conn.,I942), is an outstanding
descriptionof the economicposition,status,and cultureof one of the main
stratain English society.On the nobility,therehave been severalimportant
papersby LawrenceStone, particularly"The Inflationof Honours I558-
I64I."37 The SocialStructurein CarolineEngland (Oxford,Eng., I948) and
The Age of CharlesI (London, I95I), by David Mathew,surveythe early
seventeenth-century social order interestinglyand often with deep insight,
but arespottyand incomplete.WallaceNotestein,The EnglishPeopleon the
Eve of Colonization,I603-I630 (New York, I954), containsinterestingma-
36 Perez Zagorin, "The English Revolution," journal of World History, II (Pts. 3-4, 1955),
668-8i, and "The Social Interpretationof the English Revolution," journal of Economic History,
XIX (Sept. 1959), 376-40I.
87 Lawrence Stone, "The Inflation of Honours 1558-I641," Past and Present, XIV (Nov. 1958),
43-65; see also id., "The Nobility in Business," The Entrepreneur (Cambridge, Mass., 1957),
14-21, and "Marriageamong the English Nobility in the i6th and I7th Centuries," Compara-
tive Studies in Society and History, III (Jan. I96I), I82-206. On the inflation of honors, see
also Charles R. Mayes, "The Sale of Peerages in Early Stuart England," journal of Modern His-
tory, XXIX (Mar. 1957), 21-37.
 378 Perez Zagorin
terialand a good bibliographyof socialhistory.MarkH. Curtis,Oxfordand
Cambridgein TransitionI558-I642 (Oxford,Eng., I959), tracesthe changing
functionsof the universityin English societyand depictsthe new relation
betweenthem which came into being. On the same topic,Jack H. Hexter,
"The Educationof the Aristocracyin the Renaissance"(Journalof Modern
History, XXII [Mar. I950], I-20), should also be read, as well as Fritz
Caspari,Humanismand the SocialOrderin TudorEngland(Chicago,I954).
On the milieu,taste,and interestsof citizensand the "middlesortof people,"
Louis B. Wright'sextraordinarily full Middle-ClassCulturein Elizabethan
England (Chapel Hill, N. C., I935) has recentlybeen reprinted(Ithaca,
N. Y., i958). WalterL. Woodfill,Musiciansin English Societyfrom Eliza-
bethto CharlesI (Princeton,N. J.,I953), is a definitiveaccountof the musi-
cal professionin all its aspects:in London, the provinces,the church,and
the court.In The ProfessionalWriterin ElizabethanEngland (Cambridge,
Mass.,i959), Edwin H. Millerdealswith the literaryprofession.The nature
and motivesof the patronageextendedto literatureby a great noblemanare
analyzedin EleanorRosenberg,Lei'cester:Patron of Letters (New York,
I955). Among textsvaluablefor the studyof sociallife and much elsebesides,
the chief recentpublicationis the completeand well-annotatedcollection-
479 in all-of The Lettersof John Chamberlain,the busy gossip who knew
so much of what was happeningor rumoredin the city, the court, and
amongthe governingclass.88English domesticrelationsare depictedin two
works that have good illustrationsand useful bibliographies:CarrollCam-
den, The ElizabethanWoman:A Panoramaof English Womanhood,I540 to
I640 (London,I952), and Lu E. Pearson,Elizabethansat Home (Stanford,
Calif.,I957).
Of works relatingto the social order,specialmention must be made of
WilburK. Jordan'sPhilanthropy in England,1480-I660: A Studyof the Chang-
ing Patternof EnglishSocialAspirations(New York, I959) and its tributary
volumes, The Charitiesof London, 1480-i660: The Aspirationsand the
Achievementsof the UrbanSociety(New York,I960) and The Formingof the
CharitableInstitutionsof the West of England: A Study of the Changing
Patternof Social Aspirationsin Bristoland Somerset,I48o-i660 (Philadel-
phia, i96o).9 The scope of this monumentalstudy is much wider than its
title implies,and both its innovationsin methodand its conclusionsestablish
38 The Letters of John Chamberlin, ed. Norman E. McClure
(Philadelphia, I939). A new
and hitherto unknown letter of Chamberlain dating from I587 has been published by John
W. Stoye in English Historical Review, LXII (Oct. I947), 522-32.
89A concluding volume in this study on the charitable institutions of Buckinghamshire,
Norfolk, and Yorkshireis promised.
 English History, I558-I640 379
it as the chief contributionin this centuryto English social history.The
methodis to use as evidencethe wills of charitabledonorson so massivea
scaleas to renderfeasiblea detailedinvestigationof the transitionfrom one
stateof societyto another.The gifts and benefactionsof nearly35,ooo men
and women of all classesand rankshave been studiedfor the years I480-
i66o in ten countiesthat comprisedperhapsone-thirdthe populationand
over half the wealth of the nation.A carefulanalysisof this huge number
of gifts by decadeintervals,by socialrank,and accordingto their many dif-
ferentobjects-church,poor relief,socialrehabilitation, education,and other
-has enabledJordanto demonstratethe changingpatternof aspirationsof
the varioussortsand conditionsof men duringthis long period.He has thus
been ableto show how, and in what proportions,the provisionof wealthfor
secularpurposessupplantedgifts to the church,and how men set themselves
to create with their benefactionsnew institutionsof social assistanceand
betterment,removed from the supervisionof the traditionalecclesiastical
authorities.The examinationof the pace of this processin differentregions
and classes,illustratedby numerousstatisticaltables, is one of the most
fascinatingaspectsof the work. Jordanis aware of the limitationsand
problematicfeaturesof his method,the most seriousof these being the in-
abilityto make allowancein the data for the steadyrise in pricesover the
epoch treated.Despite this, the main lines of the work stand firm, and its
depictionof the earlierstagesin the transitionto a liberalsociety,as well as
the quantitiesof informationit containson many other subjects,will have
to be ponderedby all studentsof the period.
An aspectof social history that is increasinglypursuedwith the most
promisingresultsis the study of particulartowns, counties,and regions.At
one time the preservemainly of antiquariansand of warmheartedamateurs
engaged in celebratingtheir own laresand penates,local historyis today
more and more a subjectof researchby professionalscholars.By means of
their investigations,grandiosegeneralizationscan be tested and brought
down to earth, the perspectivethat sees all events from London and the
centerof governmentcan be correctedand enlarged,and the experienceof
local communities,whose life before the appearanceof the presentmetro-
politanage was so vivid and embracing,can be integratedinto the general
historyof the nation. What may be done in local historyis to be seen in
Alfred L. Rowse's rich and detailed book, Tudor Cornwall (London, I4i),
an outstanding example of the synthesis between local and national history,
which is to be looked for from such work. Many distinguished contributions
have also been made by William G. Hoskins, a master in this field of study.
380 Perez Zagorin
Some of the best are in Essaysin LeicestershireHistory (Liverpool,I950)
and in DevonshireStudies (the latterwrittenin collaboration with H. P. R.
Finberg[London,I952]). His "An ElizabethanProvincialTown: Leicester,"
in Studiesin SocialHistory,editedby JohnH. Plumb (London,I955), should
alsobe read.WilliamB. Willcox,Gloucestershire: A Studyin Local Govern-
ment, i59o-i640 (New Haven, Conn.,I940), gives a valuablepictureof this
county. Several chaptersin Arthur H. Dodd, Studies in Stuart Wales
(Cardiff,I952), deal illuminatinglywith this period.WallaceT. MacCaffrey,
Exeter,I540-I640: The Growthof an English CountyTown (Cambridge,
Mass., I958), is an able accountof an importanttown, which shows the
cohesiveand protectionistspirit that prevailedin the communityand its
dominant merchant group. J. W. F. Hill, Tudor and Stuart Lincoln
(Cambridge,Eng., I956), has interestingmaterial,but leaves important
topicsuntouched.Largequantitiesof documentsrelatingto local historyare
being publishedby British recordand antiquariansocieties.Most of these
are listed in E. L. C. Mullins' guide, alreadymentioned.CharlesGross's
indispensableA Bibliographyof British Municipal History (Cambridge,
Mass.,I9I5) shouldbe reissuedin a new andup-to-dateedition.
We come finally to economic history, whose connectionswith both
social and local historyare so multifariousand on which so much of im-
portancehas been done in the last years.Most of the principalcontributions
have appearedin articlesin the EconomicHistory Review and should be
soughtthere.Owing no doubtto the controversialcharacterof some of the
problemsand to the convictionthat moremonographicmaterialis necessary,
no new detailedeconomichistoryof the sixteenthand seventeenthcenturies
has appeared.However,the secondand third volumesof EphraimLipson's
great Economic History of England (London, I93I), which treat this
period,were reprintedin a fifth edition with fresh information(5th ed.,
London, I948-56).4? A brief but useful survey is George N. Clark'sThe
Wealthof Englandfrom I496 to I760 (Oxford,Eng., I946). Among more
specializedworksthe chief one is RichardH. Tawney,Businessand Politics
underJames1: LionelCranfieldas MerchantandMinister(Cambridge,Eng.,
I958), which describeswith inimitable style and scholarshipCranfield's
careerin businessandgovernmentand gives a masterlyaccountof commerce
at this time.Anothervaluablestudy,outstandingfor its scopeand its analyti-
cal trenchancy,is BarryE. Supple,CommercialCrisisand Changein Eng-
land, I600-I642: A Studyin the Instabilityof a MercantileEconomy (Cam-
40This fifth edition seems little changed from the third enlarged edition of 1943 which
contains much additionalmaterial in both text and notes.
 English History, I558-I640 38I
bridge, Eng., John U. Nef's Industry and Government in France and
I959).
England, i540-1640 (Philadelphia,I940), is a suggestiveattemptto relate
political and constitutional factors to economic growth. Its assertion that
English economic development in this century was so great in some fields as
to have constituted a "first industrial revolution" is perhaps questionable.
Robert K. Ashton, The Crown and the Money Market, I603-I640 (Oxford,
Eng., I960), presents a penetrating account of royal borrowing and its politi-
cal implications under the early Stuarts.Foreign trade is discussed in Thomas
S. Willan, The Early History of the Russia Company, I553-I603 (Manchester,
Eng., I956), and Studies in Elizabethan Foreign Trade (Manchester, Eng.,
I959), and in George D. Ramsay, English Overseas Trade during the Cen-
turies of Emergence (London, I957), and Raymond W. K. Hinton, The
Eastland Trade and the Commonweal in the Seventeenth Century (Cam-
bridge, Eng., Igsg). An important work relating to industrial regulation is
Margaret G. Davies, The Enforcement of English Apprenticeship: A Study
in Applied Mercantilism, I563-I642 (Cambridge, Mass., I956). The wool
trade is treated in George D. Ramsay, The Wiltshire Woollen Industry in
the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Oxford, Eng., I943), and Thomas
C. Mendenhall, The Shrewsbury Drapers and the Welsh Wool Trade in the
xvith and xviith Centuries (Oxford, Eng., I On agrarianlife, Joan
Thirsk, English Peasant Farming: The Agrarian History of Lincolnshire
from Tudor to Recent Times (London, I957) and Fenland Farming in the
Sixteenth Century (Leicester, I953), should be noted. The same writer has
given a serviceable summary of the enclosure problem in Tudor Enclosures
(London,i959).

Turning briefly to cultural history and the history of ideas (from which
literary history proper is excluded as beyond our purview), we may notice
a few important works. Two learned and detailed treatments of the six-
teenth and early seventeenth centuries respectively, containing much material
on thought, both written with distinction and compendiously supplied with
bibliographies, are: Clive S. Lewis, English Literature in the Sixteenth Cen-
tury, Excluding Drama (Vol. III of The Oxford History of English Litera-
ture [Oxford, Eng., I954]), and Douglas Bush, English Literature in the
Earlier Seventeenth Century (Vol. V of The Oxford History of English
Literature [Oxford, Eng., I945]). Eustace M. W. Tillyard, The Elizabethan
World Picture (London, I943), is a stimulating presentation of the presup-
positions of sixteenth-century thought and its basis in the idea of cosmic
order. It should be read together with James Winny, The Frame of Order:
382 Perez Zagorin
An Outline of Elizabethan Belief (London, I957), a brief anthology of
texts.Paul H. Kocheralso dealswith significantaspectsof intellectualhistory
in Science and Religion in Elizabethan England (San Marino, Calif., I953).
A rather pedestrian treatment of Bacon as a thinker is F. H. Anderson, The
Philosophy of Francis Bacon (Chicago, 1948).41 On political ideas in the
sixteenth century, the outstanding recent work is Christopher Morris,
Political Thought in England: Tyndale to Hooker (London, I953), a bril-
liant essay. There are several books devoted to Richard Hooker, among them
Peter Munz, The Place of Hooker in the History of Thought (London,
I952), and F. J. Shirley, Richard Hooker and ContemporaryPolitical Ideas
(London, I949). Interesting and valuable studies on special aspects of
political thought are John G. A. Pocock, The Ancient Constitution and the
Feudal Law: A Study of English Historical Thought in the Seventeenth
Century (Cambridge, Eng., 1957), and J. H. M. Salmon, The French
Religious Wars in English Political Thought (Oxford, Eng., i959). Margaret
Judson's scholarly The Crisis of the Constitution (New Brunswick, N. J.,
1949) is a full and careful analysis of constitutional and political ideas from
I603 to I645. George L. Mosse, The Struggle for Sovereignty in England
from the Reign of Queen Elizabeth to the Petition of Right (East Lansing,
Mich., I950), deals usefully with the same subject. A good short essay on
James I's political philosophy is W. H. Greenleaf, "James I and the Divine
Right of Kings" (Political Studies, V [Feb. '957], 36-48).

Many biographies of both greater and lesser luminaries in the Elizabethan

and early Stuart worlds have appeared during the years under review,
though some notable personalities still remain inadequately treated or com-
pletely unchronicled. The outstanding recent work of biography is Read's
history of Lord Burghley, already referred to, which definitively fills the long-
standing need for a life of the great Tudor statesman. An account of the
earlier years of his son, Sir Robert Cecil, has been written by Phyllis M.
Handover, The Second Cectil (London, 1959), but more and deeper work
needs to be done on this important individual. Catherine D. Bowen,
The Lion and the Throne: The Life and Times of Sir Edward Coke
(I552-I634) (Boston, 1957), has no new material, but does partial justice
to Coke's extraordinary and many-sided career. Two lives of Raleigh
have appeared: Ernest A. Strathmann, Sir Walter Ralegh: A Study
in Elizabethan Skepticism (New York, I95I), and Willard M. Wallace,
41 On Bacon, see also Benjamin Farrington, Francis Bacon, Philosopher of Industrial
Science (New York, 1949), and James G. Crowther, Francis Bacon, The First Statesman of
Science (London, I960).
 English History, 1558-I640 383
Str Walter Raleigh (Princeton, N. J., Ig59). Yet this protean man
of genius still defies definition, and so-me mysteries still lurk about
his career.David B. Quinn, Raleigh and the British Empire (London,
1947), is a good study of Raleigh's activities as an explorer and colo-
nizer. Cyril Falls has written the biographyof the Earl of Essex' suc-
cessor in the Irish command-Mountioy: Elizabethan General (London,
I955). A majorbiographical contributionis David H. Willson,King James
VI and I (London,1956). There have been lives of ArchbishopWhitgift by
Powel M. Dawley (John Whitgiftand the EnglishReformation[New York,
I954]) and VictorJ. K. Brook (Whitgift and the English Church[London,
I957]). Paul A. Welsby wrote a biographicalaccount of another great
ecclesiastic:LancelotAndrewesI555-I626 (London,i958). The most recent
life of William Laud is now Hugh R. Trevor-Roper,ArchbishopLaud
(London,1940). IrvonwyMorgan,Prince Charles'sPuritanChaplain(Lon-
don, I958), describesthe politicalcareerof the influentialPuritanclergyman,
John Preston,and has a suggestivethough not always accurateanalysisof
Puritan-court relations.A most interestinglife of a financialmagnate,which
displaysthe seamierside of Elizabethanpolitics, is LawrenceStone'sAn
Elizabethan:Sir HoratioPalavc'cino (Oxford,Eng., I956). JamesA. William-
son, Hawkins of Plymouth:A New History of Sir John Hawkins and of
the OtherMembersof His Family Prominentin TudorEngland (London,
I949), presentsnew factsaboutthis greatsailorand his relations.
There are many gaps in our portraitgallery of these wonderfulyears.
The careersof Elizabeth'sfavorites,Leicesterand Essex,have neveryet been
fully relatedand their politicalroles tracedthroughall their ramifications.
There is no satisfactorylife of Sir ChristopherHatton, nor any at all of
ArchbishopBancroft,Nicholas Bacon, Elizabeth'sLord Keeper, his son,
AnthonyBacon,who was Essex'intimate,nor of Lord ChancellorEllesmere.
Neitherhave the two famousCatholicactivists,William CardinalAllen and
the Jesuit,RobertPersons,found a biographer.The life of Sir Edwin Sandys,
the colonizerand parliamentary oppositionleader,remainsto be written,as
does that of another notable oppositionist,Sir Robert Phelips. Hugh F.
Kearney'sStraflordin Ireland,1633-4I: A Studyin Absolutism(Manchester,
Eng., i957) is probablya definitivetreatmentof the Irishphaseof the great
Lord Lieutenant'scareer,yet his life as a whole must now be reconsidered
on the basis of the vast collectionof WentworthWoodhousemanuscripts
at Sheffield,firstmadeavailableto historiansin I48.42
42 The financial side of Strafford's career and his resourceful use of the opportunities of
crown office are well described by J. P. Cooper, "The Fortune of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of
Strafford,"Economic History Review, 2d Ser., XI (Dec. 1958), 227-48.
384 Perez Zagorin
The lasttopicto be noticedis explorationand empire-one of the greatest
themes in Elizabethanhistoriography.Alfred L. Rowse has risen finely
to the occasionin The Expansionof ElizabethanEngland (London, 1955)
and The Elizabethansand America(London,I959). Scientifichistoryhas not
banishedthe moisteye and the patrioticswellingfrom theseevocativenarra-
tives in which the mighty transatlanticdestinyof the Englishpeopleis pre-
figured.A surveyof voyagesand explorationby the leadingauthorityon the
subjecthas appearedin a revisededition:JamesA. Williamson,The Age of
Drake (2d ed., London, 1946). Rayner Unwin has given an engrossing
accountof a famous episode in Hawkins' careerin The Defeat of John
Hawkins: A Biography of His First Slaving Voyage (London, i96o).
Louis B. Wright'sReligion and Empire: The Alliance betweenPiety and
Commercein English Expansion,I558-I625 (Chapel Hill, N. C., 1943)
discussesthe supportgiven by piety to expansion.A numberof important
texts have been edited by David B. Quinn for the Hakluyt Society: The
RoanokeVoyages,I58 4-I590: Documentsto Illustratethe English Voyages
to North America under the Patent Grantedto Walter Raleigh in I584
(2 vols., London, i955), and The Voyagesand ColonisingEnterprisesof
SirHumphreyGilbert(2 vols.,London,i940).

Taking a retrospectiveglance at the many writingslisted in this survey,

one sees that much has been done and that much more remainsto be done.
As the greatFrenchhistorian,GeorgesLefebvre,used to say, "IIfaut travail-
ler." For those who live under Clio's bracing influence,there is ever the
prospectof "Tomorrowto freshWoods,andPasturesnew."