Early Modern England 1485–1714: A Narrative History

Early Modern England, 1485–1714: A Narrative History is a lively, up–to–date survey of the Tudor–Stuart period. The narrative shows how England transformed itself from a feudal and relatively minor European state into a constitutional monarchy and the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth. The story of struggles over governmental and religious policies is enlivened by clear snapshots of how social and cultural changes affected ordinary English people at the beginning, middle, and end of the period. The authors also show how Irish, Scottish, and Welsh developments affected English history. This new edition takes into account recent scholarship on Henry VIII, Commonwealthmen, the Poor Law, and the Interregnum, and it extends coverage of the Reformations throughout the British Isles, as well as the European, Scottish, and Irish contexts of the Restoration and Revolution of 1688–9. There is also a new section on women’s roles and the historiography of women and gender. Written by two leading scholars and experienced teachers of the subject, Early Modern England assumes no prior knowledge of English history. Student aids to the text include maps, illustrations, and genealogies.

List of Plates. List of Maps. Preface to the Second Edition. Preface to the First Edition. Acknowledgments. Conventions and Abbreviations. Introduction : England and its People, ca. 1485. 1. Establishing the Henrician Regime, 1485–1525. 2. (Dis–)Establishing the Henrician Church, 1525–1536. 3. Reformations and Counter–Reformations, 1536–1558. 4. The Elizabethan Settlement and its Challenges, 1558–1585. 5. The Elizabethan Triumph and Unsettlement, 1585–1603. 6. Merrie Olde England?, ca. 1603. 7. The Early Stuarts and the Three Kingdoms, 1603–1642. 8. Civil War, Revolution, and the Search for Stability, 1642–1660. 9. Restoration and Revolution, 1660–1689. 10. War and Politics, 1689–1714. Conclusion : Augustan Polity, Society, and Culture, ca. 1714. Notes. Glossary. Select Bibliography. Appendix : Genealogies. 1. The Yorkists and Lancastrians. 2. The Tudors and Stuarts. 3. The Stuarts and Hanoverians. Index.

Robert Bucholz is Professor of History at Loyola University of Chicago. He is the author of The Augustan Court: Queen Anne and the Decline of Court Culture (1993) and, with Sir John Sainty, Officials of the Royal Household 1660–1837 (2 volumes, 1997–8). He has written articles on Queen Anne and the court. Newton Key is Professor of History at Eastern Illinois University. He has written articles on preaching, on feasting, on charity, and on provincial and metropolitan politicking in Stuart England and Wales. He is currently at work on a study of patrician/plebeian politics in seventeenth– and eighteenth–century London.

“Scholars and students who want to begin to master early modern England need look no further. Bucholz and Key’s book is the text to study and know. It is difficult to convey how useful this text is—from its concise prose to its useful charts and graphs to its glossary and select bibliography, Bucholz and Key have done an admirable job.” ( Scholars’ Book Talk , March 2009) Praise for the first edition: "This excellent book is consciously designed for students in North American universities who are studying this period for the first time, but its qualities are such that British students will find it a remarkably effective and well–sustained synthesis. The narrative is readable, fluent and balanced ... Throughout, the authors, both of whom are vastly experienced teachers as well as being active research scholars, have managed to delineate detail effectively without obscuring the narrative flow ... It is, as they say in their conclusion, ′a terrific story′, and they have told it terrifically well." ( History ) "Complementing its accessibility, Early Modern England is comprehensive and true to recent scholarly conclusions. Bucholz and Key have produced a useful narrative for the present generation of those being introduced to English history in the period. It is engaging from first to last and merits close review by faculty across the United States seeking a strong classroom text." ( Albion ) "Robert Bucholz and Newton Key have written Early Modern England, 1485–1714: A Narrative History to fill the need for an authoritative, one volume textbook covering the Tudor and Stuart eras that is written especially for an American audience. They have succeeded in their goal." ( H–Albion ) " Early Modern England is informative and a pleasure to read." ( Sixteenth Century Journal )