This thesis argues that 17th century polymath Sir Kenelm Digby treats his scientific discourses as psychological romances in his works Loose Fantasies and Two Treatises, with his use of courtly romantic tropes, and that a contemporary audience would have read Digby's scientific treatises as literary. I first argue that science and romance in Digby's narrative romance Loose Fantasies are literary modes of the text's narrative form and that these modes are not mutually exclusive, since science is a "pyschodrama" to Digby, who is both the audience and author of these putative "private memoirs." I then relate Digby's "romantic science" in Loose Fantasies to his "poetike Idea of science" in Digby's Two Treatises in order to argue that while the treatise is traditionally received as a philosophical discourse, it is also a work of literary criticism. I conclude that Digby's "poetike Idea of science" is always unstable, because Digby cannot choose between the primacy of language and ideas in human cognition, due to the rapid rationalistic developments in epistemology during his time.

This thesis is a comprehensive analysis of the hull remains of La Belle, a ship wrecked off the coast of Texas in 1684 during the failed attempt by Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle to establish a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The analysis of La Belle's hull focused on five research goals. The first was to reconstruct the conception and design of the hull. Because La Belle was built on France's Atlantic coast, it was expected that the ship would fit into Atlantic traditions of shipbuilding. Instead, it exhibits an ancient Mediterranean method known only from Renaissance manuscripts. Until La Belle's discovery no archaeological example associated with this method had been identified. Reconstruction of the lines also revealed the unexpected use of surmarks that reflect a transition from a largely empirical approach to the architecturally-based ship plan. The second goal was the documentation of a previously unstudied ship type, the barque longue, through an analysis and description of the hull's assembly and its comparison to contemporary shipbuilding practices. The third goal was an analysis of newly discovered registries, letters, and documents specific to La Belle that raised fundamental questions regarding the ship's genesis and typological identification. The fourth goal was species identification of the timbers to provide a more detailed picture of forest exploitation and to identify whether Old or New World timbers were used in the repairs noted in the hull. The fifth goal was to obtain information on the origin of the wood through dendrochronological analysis. That analysis raised unexpected questions regarding dating and the possibility of re-use of whole frame sets. Because there are no other investigated late 17th-century shipwreck sites from the Rochefort region with species and dendrochronology data, La Belle has provided a benchmark for these two analyses. These five research foci provide a unique picture of late 17th-century shipbuilding in French Atlantic shipyards and contribute to the study of hull design, ship typology, construction and assembly, wood species use and origin, dendrochronological dating, and timber reuse.

This dissertation examines the Catholic community of Warwickshire during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558--?1603). While local studies of post—Reformation Catholics have been attempted in other English counties, no substantial body of work has been produced for Warwickshire. The research therefore draws heavily on both the primary sources for Warwickshire and the more general secondary works on post--?Reformation Catholicism. The approach has been to identify the Catholics and recusants through the primary sources, such as recusant rolls, commissioners’ reports and State Papers, and endeavour to understand the causes and consequences of recusancy and how this affected the identity of the Catholic individual and community. The principal findings and discoveries demonstrate that the Catholic community of Warwickshire was, in general, detached from its medieval predecessor. Unable to worship freely, they resorted to clandestine and surreptitious practices and proved to be eclectic and fluid with regard to religious doctrine when the occasion demanded. After heightened persecution in the 1580s, the steadfast members of the community tried to avoid detection through several means, including church papism, frequently moving between parishes or counties, and the (often false) promise of conformity when caught. This dissertation is arranged into six thematic chapters. This method allowed several key aspects of the continuation of Catholicism in Warwickshire to be analysed separately. Chapter 1 introduces the themes explored in the dissertation. Chapter 2 examines the geographical features of Warwickshire and its jurisdictional subdivision and argues that these features protected pockets of Catholic communities from close supervision by the state and church. Chapter 3 investigates the clergy within the county and their effect on Catholics and recusants. The higher and lower reformed clergy, the remaining Marian priests and the missionaries who came to England from 1574 onwards are considered. Chapter 4 looks at the members of the Catholic community themselves, focusing on the gentry and non-gentry. Chapter 5 focuses on the government’s use of monetary fines to deter conservatives from recusancy from 1581 onwards. The reasons for Catholics to choose either recusancy or church papism over conformity are complex and, in the face of fierce persecution, at times inexplicable. Chapter 6 considers the themes of persecution and toleration within the county, and analyses in detail the circumstances of the Somerville Plot of 1583. The understanding of such a community, combined with a comparative analysis of Catholic communities in other counties, offers an original contribution to the study of post-Reformation England. / published_or_final_version / History / Master / Master of Philosophy

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Studies of the political reactions of both the ‘county’ community and various provincial towns during the English Civil War have been tackled over the past fifty years. However no individual modern study has been undertaken of a Kent town or city for this period; neither has an examination of the relationship between two neighbouring strategic towns. This thesis intends to examine the relationship between the cathedral city of Rochester and adjacent dockyard town of Chatham in Kent from 1640 to 1660, which were both vital strategically to maintain the Parliamentarian stranglehold over the county. There is much debate in recent historiography whether those below the gentry had access to and participated in the current ideological debates. This study explores the political and religious reactions of Rochester and Chatham inhabitants to the upheaval of the English Revolution with the contention that those below the gentry were both able to understand the wider discussions and participate in them. The townsfolk were both articulate and able to couch their responses and concerns within a wider ideological framework. They expressed their opinion to central government by a variety of means, exploiting whatever weaponry was at hand. Local people’s reactions and allegiance did not standstill, but shifted with the changing circumstances of civil war. Current research has demonstrated that the religious radicalism of the English Revolution created both diversity and conflict; particularly in the county of Kent. Yet no detailed study of the impact of religious radicalism upon a local community has so far been attempted. Part of this thesis investigates the effect that a proliferation of different religious groups had upon the Medway Towns of Rochester and Chatham. Whilst some people embraced the new sects and ideas circulating, others felt threatened by the changes taking place and responded by attacking these radical beliefs and preachers. Religious diversity was to a degree tolerated, but when it threatened the perceived social order the authorities were quick to act and prevent the spread of ‘erroneous’ ideas.

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Though the establishment of educational institutions is not necessarily surprising in Counter Reformation France as the church was obliged to foster education, what was innovative about Lyon’s écoles de charité is that “professional education” was stressed alongside Catholic doctrine in the seventeenth century. Catering to Lyon’s poor youth, these schools taught proper Catholic comportment, reading, writing, counting, and the acquisition of craft skills. Official and unofficial records reveal the charity schools’ daily practices and pedagogical exercises as well as the goals of the state, church, and local elite in fostering and supporting these institutions. The schools molded children into “moral, productive workers and faithful subjects” who could act as agents of the state, church, and community. Students had the responsibility of “elevating the morality, Christianity, and education” of their families, improving the “lower sorts” literally from the bottom-up. This thesis also addresses parents’ incentives in sending their children to these institutions. This projects spans several historiographies including that of early modern education, childhood, and the Catholic Reformation. Though other studies have mentioned the establishment of écoles de charité as part of a wider impulse of charitable giving spurred by the Catholic Reformation, little work exists on the schools’ specific dynamics or on the relationship to the state and community embedded in the routine life of these schools. Additionally, this project uses “childhood” as a category of historical analysis, investigating how different early modern social groups used children to change society. Finally, this project engages the Catholic Reformation as these schools were part of a larger project to expand knowledge of Catholic beliefs onto the people propelled by local as well as elite interests. / text

If Shakespeare contributed the additions to the 1602 edition of Thomas Kyd's The Spanish tragedy, he did so at the time he was writing Hamlet. The additions were written anonymously, but contemporary references to playwrights and their works, publication records, and documented theatrical transactions have provoked the authorship controversy for centuries. Recent studies have attempted "fingerprinting” and "DNA" analysis of verbal structures to solve the case once and for all, but this study moves beyond the (impossible) task of trying to "prove" that Shakespeare wrote the additions and instead seeks to recreate a hypothetical scenario to show why and how Shakespeare may have written them. Using the loose structure of a modern recreation of a cold-case crime, this study contextualizes the additions and the authorship controversy they have inspired, situating the case in its earlier manifestations and in present-day criticism. It will be shown why Shakespeare would have been the ideal candidate to revise The Spanish tragedy: he was familiar with Kyd's work, was known for revitalizing older works, knew the players, and was a writer for hire. It will be argued that the publisher of the additions, Thomas Pavier, followed Shakespeare throughout his career and saw a marketing opportunity to capitalize on three trends: title pages that advertised newness, nostalgia for old texts, and a market for Shakespearean language. This essay will trace the hypothetical steps to see how Shakespeare's additions might have been written, dispersed, rehearsed, acted, and printed. Ultimately, the additions will be situated as a hypothetical middle step between Kyd’s Ur-Hamlet, The Spanish tragedy, and Shakespeare's Hamlet. / text