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This thesis takes as its starting point the growth in the late sixteenth century of a philosophy of the power of the state that had its origins in humanist discussions of deliberation and necessity. It charts the development of a new moral theory of political action based on the conception that actions are just if they are undertaken to preserve those institutions of the state that preserve peace. This is not only a significant development for modern political ideas in itself, but was to a marked degree in conflict with older humanist ideas of morality in politics, which had focused on the virtuous actions of public individuals. Looking at early modern political thought through the perspective of this conflict is very revealing about the growth of political ideas that led to the development of more modern and recognisably liberal ideas about politics. The significance of my findings stems partly from their capacity to correct the overwhelmingly juridical bias that currently marks the historiography of English political thought during this period. The focus of study on the period before the civil war has been the English common law, and the development within that tradition of the idea of an ancient constitution which could be used to defend rights such as <I>habeas corpus</I> and private property against the encroachments of an increasingly absolutist Stuart state. Constitutionalism and rights theories have been regarded as the heroes of the story, while discussion about, and justifications of, the power of the state, including 'reason of state' theories, have been regarded as adjuncts of absolutism. These discussions have in turn been regarded as a European phenomenon, typified by the French and Spanish monarchies. The civil war of 1642-9 and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 gave the British a lucky escape from this fate, and a chance to embody the idea of rights within their constitution against the wishes of their now limited monarchs.

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This thesis constructs the first integrated cultural history of a county as a unit for the eighteenth century. Surveying a diversity of environments, urban and rural, this study emphasises the variety of cultural activities and contexts within a single English county. Such a detailed study of a whole county – not just major towns – brings geography to the fore, recognising the importance of not only ‘natural’, but also human, geography – in the form of communications networks, urban planning, and local economies – in shaping provincial cultural life in the eighteenth century. The thesis mines a rich seam of source material including local newspapers, books, diaries and correspondence to explore five central aspects of Wiltshire’s cultural life. Each of the chapters – on religion, sociability, sport, the theatre, and music – reveals important details of English provincial life, from religious, social, and economic imperatives to leisure pursuits and pastimes. Together, the chapters form a detailed case study of Wiltshire’s own cultural life and the provincial county’s relations with regional, national, and metropolitan social and cultural influences. Because of its breadth of focus and the diversity of its sample, this thesis creates a body of material that is used to analyse key themes in the historiography of eighteenth-century society and culture. The thesis thus employs its empirical geographical basis to interrogate concepts and models such as class, commercialisation, politeness and the urban renaissance, and to evaluate the way these developments played themselves out on the ground in Wiltshire. The county history therefore not only extends historians’ knowledge of local provincial culture and society, but contributes to an understanding of eighteenth-century English culture at large.

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This thesis focuses on the relationship between kingship and usurpation in the period between the deposition of Richard II in 1399 and the accession of Henry VII in 1485. The whole edifice of medieval English kingship was ideologically and practically founded upon the understanding that a monarch was above the judgement of his subjects, yet in the period between 1399 and 1485 the English king was violently removed from office on six occasions. These events created a formidable intellectual paradox at the heart of the institution of kingship, with each usurper attempting to claim for himself the immunity from correction that he had so recently and forcibly violated. The ways in which this paradox was approached by successive usurpers offer a potentially illuminating insight into medieval political structures and the way these structures were viewed by contemporaries. This thesis investigates the attempts at legitimation put forward by the various usurping dynasties that occupied the English throne between 1399 and 1485, and the extent to which these attempts were accepted by the political community. It considers the six usurpations both individually and as a sequence in which each informed the next, through the medium of two groups of records. The first group consists of records created by the central government concerned, either directly or tangentially, to legitimise its hold on power. The second group comprises documents produced by the king’s subjects, either in support of, or in opposition to, his government and its theoretical statements. By analysing these two groups of material, this thesis explores how the attempts to legitimise the fifteenth-century usurpations worked, the degree to which they were accepted and the impact they had on underlying contemporary assumptions about kingship.

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