The clergy were the focus of early modern parish life, yet their often troubled relationships with parishioners have received little attention from social historians. This thesis offers new evidence by examining the Warwickshire clergy, in the turbulent years between 1660 and the repeal of the ‘Occasional Conformity’ and ‘Schism’ acts, as both victims and perpetrators in clerical/lay conflicts. Using the ecclesiastical records of Worcester and Lichfield/Coventry, the two dioceses covering Warwickshire, this study has found clerical authority weakened through contempt, and disadvantaged by the Anglican Church’s continued use of medieval methods of ecclesiastical discipline and funding. It has also discovered a strong laity using both legal and subversive tactics to express frustration with the clergy and influence clerical behaviour, by negotiating an acceptable Anglican orthodoxy or by opposing the minister to force his resignation, suspension or deprivation. Mapping of tithe and non-tithe clerical/lay incidents shows that conflict was more frequent in south-west Warwickshire, particularly in the Hundred of Barlichway, than in the north and east of the county. Strong gentry control decreased the likelihood of clerical/lay disputes while the proximity of grammar schools increased them, and the presence of dissenters in conflicted parishes was of major significance. Catholics in particular, but also Quakers and Presbyterians, participated in disputes. Conversely dissenters were few in parishes without recorded conflict. Warwickshire disputes were more prevalent than in the often dispersed settlements of York diocese, and violent hostility towards Warwickshire clergy and their families was greater in 1690 to 1720 than in 1660 to 1689. This study of clergy-centred conflict finds rare examples of harmony in a society of institutionalized informing and malicious intent, and sees frequent clerical/lay antagonism as part of a continuous narrative of religious ‘schism’ from before the civil wars, through the seventeenth century to the present day.

The Historia ecclesiastica of Orderic Vitalis is widely regarded as one of the most important examples of Norman historical writing. Written between c.1114 and 1141 at the monastery of Saint-Evroult on the southern frontier of Normandy, its thirteen books have a broad geographic scope, mixing events within the cloister with those taking place in Normandy, England, France, Spain, southern Italy and the Latin East. This thesis examines the question of why Orderic wrote the Historia. It employs close textual analysis to explore the way in which the purpose of the work is reflected in its content. Each of its four chapters focuses on a major part of the narrative. Chapter 1 examines the textual interplay between Saint-Evroult and southern Italy in books III to VII and challenges the notion that Orderic began the work with a narrow geographical horizon which only expanded in the later books. Chapters 2 and 3 are twin chapters on book IX of the Historia, Orderic’s account of the First Crusade. Chapter 2 argues that Orderic punctuated the narrative of book IX, which was based on the Historia Ierosolimitana of Baldric of Bourgueil, with numerous additional passages that deliberately anchored the story in the history of Saint-Evroult. Chapter 3 suggests that book IX was a wholesale reworking of Baldric’s account in which Orderic actively and carefully edited the text in order to ensure that it was suitable for incorporation into the Historia. Chapter 4, the final chapter, examines the effect of the reign of Henry I on Saint-Evroult in the final books of the Historia, books X to XIII. This chapter reveals the ways in which the history of Saint-Evroult and its network of associated houses was interwoven throughout the larger events of the reign of Henry I. It concludes with an examination of the impact of Henry’s death on the final book of the Historia, book XIII, resulting in the burning of the town of Saint-Evroult and instability at the end of Orderic’s life. This analysis reveals the extent to which the Historia ecclesiastica is concerned with the history of Saint-Evroult and its monks, patrons, heroes and enemies. The narrative expands outwards to include important material on distant geographical regions, but it consistently returns to the rich history of the monastery to recount numerous different aspects of its past, indicating that such material constitutes the beating heart of the Historia as a whole.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

This dissertation presents a new interpretative synthesis of the sources relating to the cults, identities, and functions of the god Ares, focusing on the Archaic and Classic periods. An apparent dichotomy is identified: in many respects, the evidence suggests that Ares must have been a very important god throughout much of the Greek world throughout the Archaic and Classic periods (and beyond), but in other respects the evidence suggests that he was not. I argue that this dichotomy does not derive from changes in the popularity, relevance, or nature of the god, as has been proposed. Instead, I argue that the elements of Ares’ cults and representations which suggest that Ares was unpopular or unimportant derive from those which made him important and continually relevant. I argue that because Ares was identified with war, attitudes towards the god directly reflect Greek attitudes towards war. War’s importance as an element of Greek life, and the god’s power as a causal force with it, led to deep respect for Ares, reflected by widespread cult, and a place among the great Olympians. But the wild, destructive, and unpredictable nature of war, which Ares represented, meant that he was not a regular recipient of large-scale celebratory cult. Instead, war itself was conceived of as a form of cult for Ares, which he took pleasure in, despite the fact that it was not initiated on his behalf. Ares was associated with all aspects of war, and represented as a warrior archetype. I argue that the cluster of ideas and associations that Ares represented was a powerful tool which many Greek poets and artists were attracted to use in order to articulate and explore a series of interconnected ideas relating to war, violence, the nature of the warrior, and the role of the warrior within society.

This thesis explores the folk revival phenomenon in England, through an original examination of its place in the social and political history of the country after the Second World War. Although its roots stretched back to the early twentieth century, the post-war English folk revival significantly occurred in the context of the nation’s de-industrialisation, and exposed tensions between, on the one hand, a nostalgic lament for a fast-disappearing working class life, and a ‘forward-looking’ socialist vision of working-class culture. The original contribution to knowledge of this project lies in its analytic approach to the English folk revival as an important part of the post-war political culture. It looks at the revival from the outside in, and contextualizes the movement in the social and political story of post-war England, while also placing it within a dynamic transnational framework, a complex cross-Atlantic cultural exchange with its more well-known American contemporary. In so doing, this thesis contributes to the existing historiographies of folk revivalism in England, as well as the social and political historiographical discourses of the postwar period: the continued salience of class in English society; the transformation of the nation’s economic infrastructures; the social and political influence of the Welfare State – the folk revival tapped into all of these overlapping strands, and helped to magnify them.

The research sits in a gap between historical geography, colonial history, local micro-history and art history but also draws on wider fields such as museology, anthropology and cultural theory. It offers new perspectives onto the historiography of the photographic representation of British India whilst probing the benefits and limitations of using photography as a historical source. In particular it highlights how technological restrictions impacted on what was represented. Specifically it provides the first examination of the photographic representation of Simla, the summer capital of the British Raj, as a site. Moreover, it offers the first real interrogation of another overlooked subject; namely, the photographic representation of the physical, social and psychological structures that the colonial society created in order for it to function effectively. What has been termed the ‘Furniture of the British Raj’. It reveals the importance of the notion of home for the colonial society at Simla, the significance of establishing a British history and aura for the town and the nature of photography’s role in propagating such conceptions. In doing so it promotes an understanding of the reasons behind the application of a picturesque aesthetic to the representation of Simla. It provides new conceptions of period realities by probing the representation of inter-communal interpersonal relationships, the depiction of technology and the social order created within the Simla municipality. The in-context methodology employed has been central to the enquiry: instead of viewing the colonial presence as a homogenous whole it showcases individual differentiated viewpoints. Viewpoints made manifest by the focus on four photographic archives that are examined not as isolated quoted images but as curated culminate bodies of work within the context of their production. Uniquely, the thesis allows the images, including small details within the frame, to prompt disparate avenues of historical research unearthing subjects that might otherwise not be interrogated. The juxtaposition of these different strands creates a unique understanding of place and society. It is an approach that has culminated in new perspectives on, and understanding of, site-specific issues and mentalities: including those concerning colonisation, the environment, forestry, psychological well-being, recreation, sport, social institutions, commerce, the railway, infrastructural development, municipal governance, spatial design, labour and introduction of modernity.