While undoubtedly the historiography of witchcraft has undergone a renaissance in the past two decades, these developments have not always been speedy to filter down the regional incidents, especially in the instance of the Lancashire trials. Moreover, studies of this region have had a tendency to focus upon the two renowned trials of 1612 and 1633. The purpose of this study is to provide a more extensive and inclusive study of allegedly supernatural incidents in this region, which acknowledges historiographical progression. In the process a multitude of incidents and individuals which have been neglected will be assessed, such as the 'blesser' Mary Shawe, the dispossession of Richard Dugdale et al. In doing so not only will much be revealed about the evolution of beliefs regarding the supernatural in the local community, but also how they were interpreted and manipulated nationally, and in the process both reflected and made significant contributions to politico-religious debates

In making a study of the roles of an eighteenth century nobleman, his house, household and estate, it seemed natural to divide the essay into these inter-related parts. The first part looks at Sir John in his settings tracing his family background and early lifer following his career as soldier and politician, his elevation to the peerages his participation in county and local affairs, and his many sided relationships with members of his family friends and acquaintances. It ends with an analysis of his finanaial resources which made his style of living possible. This also serves as a springboard from which to investigate his activities of consumption and investment. Part two sumarises his work in restoring Audley End and its environs, and although primarily based on earlier research incorporates some new material. It also includes a new section on the Town house, It was considered that if the aim of seeing one nobleman "in the round" was to be achieved, then this vitally important aspect of his stewardship should not be omitted. The third part examines the economy of a Georgian household as a unit of management, employment and consumption. It quantifies the main areas of expenditure , and relates the various departments to each other. Part four investigates Griffin's role as landowner and investor,, and examines the nature and efficiency of his estate policy in terms of administration, development, and his participation in farming. The essay ends with an attempt to assess the quality of his stewardship and to estimate his significance in the history of Audley End. The thread of continuity running through all parts ie: of course, the man himself, and it is to be hoped that the responsibility of Sir John's character in the changes of family fortunes is evident. Parts six, seven and eight contain the appendices, bibliography and illustrations.

In England c. 1650-1750, before widespread formal schooling for girls or access to higher education for women, the life of the mind (broadly defined) is an important, yet unexplored, field of female experience. It is studied here via the mechanism of letterwriting. Corresponding provided motivated women with not only a forum but also the impetus to engage with intellectual life. By picking up the pen idle musings could be transformed into considered sentences; passively absorbed meanings into actively discussed ideas. From a source base of approximately 4,000 private letters, around 500 were chosen for closer analysis. Intellectual and everyday lives have traditionally been studied separately. Here it is shown that, for women, these two worlds were not only interconnected but that they impacted upon one another in significant ways. After the historiographical introduction (Chapter One), the first two research chapters (Chapters Two and Three) examine letterwriting as an interactive social process, showing that prescriptive literature was not an accurate guide to actual epistolary norms. Chapters Four and Five explore the material and intellectual qualities of a seventeenth-century letter-writer's correspondence networks, taking Mary Evelyn as a case-study. Chapter Six then analyses the ways in which the domestic spaces, inhabited by women, affected their abilities to pursue contemplative activities. Chapter Seven draws together the spatial and temporal concerns expressed by a wider cross-section of women in their letters about the `life of the mind' and the final chapter assesses what intellectual life meant for women at this time. Overall, the case is made for a broader conceptualisation of female intellectualism. The societal codes unfavourable to educating women did not, in fact, eradicate motivations to learn, think and discuss. This research does not propose a model of linear progression, but makes the important point that female aspiration grew upon unstable foundations, born out of a complex patchwork of opportunity and obstacle. As a result, it produced uncertain progress. But, where some achieved, others might follow

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No description available.

The thesis is a case-study in the shaping of a Tudor public figure. It examines the career of John Mason (1503-1566), a notable participant in mid-Tudor political life and diplomacy. Born the son of an obscure cowherd, he rose to become, by 1558, one of the richest officials in the royal household. A man who owed his success to his outstanding qualities of intellect, ambition and industry, he served the Crown in many different capacities and achieved prominence at home and abroad as civil servant, privy councillor, and ambassador. The thesis traces the stages by which he rose in the royal service: from clerk to the Council and envoy to the Elector Palatine under Henry VIII, to ambassador in France under Edward VI, ambassador to the Emperor Charles V and Philip II under Mary, and a leading privy councillor under Elizabeth. His performance in all these different roles is analysed and assessed, as is the influence he was able to exert on events during his career, and on statesmen, some of higher status than himself, such as his friends, Sir William Paget and Sir William Cecil. The thesis also seeks to show how, during such a turbulent period in English history, in spite of occasional setbacks, he was able to hold office, without interruption, under four Tudor monarchs and survive to retirement when many of his contemporaries lost their positions and some their lives.

Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries the sport of hunting was transformed. The principal prey changed from deer to fox, and the methods of pursuit were revolutionized. The traditional explanation of the hunting transition has aligned it with change in the landscape. Disappearing woodland and increased enclosure led to decline of the deer population. Attention turned to the fox out of necessity. This thesis questions the traditional explanation. It centres on Northamptonshire because the county contained the archetypal landscapes of both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ forms of hunting. Although often thought of as a county of classic midland open-field systems and parliamentary enclosure, Northamptonshire also contained three royal forests. Where the royal forests had once been the prime hunting grounds, by the nineteenth century this mantle was worn by the grassland of the ‘shires’. The elite hunted the fox in Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire. To hunt anywhere else was to hunt in the ‘provinces’. In Jacobean England, the major pleasure to be gained from the pursuit of the deer was observing the skill of the hounds. The major pleasure to be gained from ‘modern’ fox hunting was the thrill of a fast gallop across country. If seventeenth century hunting was about the hound, then nineteenth-century hunting was about the horse. The thesis contends that the partially wooded landscape that typified royal forest largely survived across the period 1600-1850, but it was not the landscape for a horseback pursuit at breakneck speed. The defining feature of the shires landscape was mile after mile of grass to gallop across. The earlier landscape survived, but was no longer what was required. This thesis suggests that the many changes that hunting underwent in this period were directly related to the transformation of the hunting horse. The nearthoroughbred horse became the mount of choice for those who hunted in the shires. The fast horse, the fast hound, and the fast prey came together with the availability of extensive rolling pasture. It was, quite literally, the thrill of the chase that led to the hunting transition.

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No description available.