Words at war : the contested language of the English civil war / edited by Andrew Hadfield and Paul Hammond.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hadfield, Andrew, editor.

Hammond, Paul, 1953- editor.

Series:

Proceedings of the British Academy ; 261.

Proceedings of the British Academy, 0068-1202 ; 261

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English language--Early modern, 1500-1700--History.

English language.

Great Britain--History--Civil War, 1642-1649--Language.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xi, 342 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2024

Summary:

"The English Civil War was not simply a conflict between two opposing, unstable, complicated alliances of various factions, but a war of words. Supporters of the King and allies of Parliament and the New Model Army clashed over ideals, ideas, and concepts as they each sought to impose their understanding of history and visions of the future, realizing that victory could only be secured by establishing a political and cultural language that would guide and direct those who used it. Accordingly, the Civil War witnessed vociferous arguments over many key English words central to life and thought in the seventeenth century, and often up to the present day. Words at War seeks to bring together scholars of literature, history, religion, and philosophy to analyse the ways in which key terms were deployed and debated in the Civil War and Commonwealth. In doing so it refocuses attention on ideas and concepts that shaped the modern world well beyond the bloody conflict on the battlefield." -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction / Andrew Hadfield and Paul Hammond

Part I God and providence

God in scripture study aids / Katrin Ettenhuber

God in Hobbes / Victoria Silver

Providence in Browne / Matthew C. Augustine

Providence in the letters and speeches of Oliver Cromwell / N.H. Keeble

Part II: freedom and servitude

Freedom in early Quaker tracts / N.H. Keeble

Slavery in John Taylor / Phil Withington

Freedom in the cavalier poets / Nicholas Mcdowell

Part III: Nature and law

Nature and natural law in radical writing / Andrew Hadfield

Law in Clarendon / Paul Hammond

Nature in Cowley / Gillian Wright

Nature in Lovelace / Andrew Hadfield

Part IV: king and people

The people in Marvell and Cavendish / Niall Allsopp

The king in the parliamentary debates of 1657 / Alice Hunt

The people in royalist women's writing / Ruth Connolly

The king and the people in the newsbooks / Jack Avery

Part V: conscience and virtue

Conscience in Marvell / Stewart Mottram

Conscience and nation in Milton 1640-1660 / Elizabeth Sauer

Virtue in defeat in Davenant and Cowley / Christopher Tilmouth

Virtue in Milton / Paul Hammond

Part VI: a legacy

Checks and balances: the birth of a vocabulary / Blair Worden.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0197267629

9780197267622

OCLC:

1415240370