Bloodsuckers of the Commonwealth : monopolies, petitioning, and the public sphere in early modern England / Ellen Paterson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paterson, Ellen, author.

Series:

Politics, culture, and society in early modern Britain

Politics, culture and society in early modern Britain

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Monopolies--England--History--16th century.

Monopolies.

Monopolies--England--History--17th century.

Petitions--England--History--16th century.

Petitions.

Petitions--England--History--17th century.

Political participation--England--History--16th century.

Political participation.

Political participation--England--History--17th century.

Public sphere--England--History--16th century.

Public sphere.

Public sphere--England--History--17th century.

Monopolies--History.

Political participation--History.

England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 259 pages)

Other Title:

Path to Open

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, [2025]

System Details:

text file

Summary:

"At the turn of the seventeenth century, subjects across the English realm found their trades and livelihoods infringed by a particularly contentious financial policy: patents of monopoly. As the cash-strapped Crown sought to raise revenues, petitioning emerged as a key mechanism utilised by subjects to protest infringements on their industries. This book offers the first in-depth exploration of anti-monopoly petitioning agitation in early modern England between 1590-1625. The issues of monopoly and corporatism led subjects, from coal merchants in Newcastle to clothiers in Oxfordshire, to engage with broader matters of political import as they negotiated the effects of this central crown policy on their lives. Yet the boundary between monopoly and legitimate corporation was an unclear one, and this period also witnessed petitioning for the chartering of new companies. These tensions received expression in petitioning campaigns, targeted to local authorities, the Privy Council, commissions, Parliament, and the Crown. This book focuses especially on campaigns launched by, and against, London’s livery and overseas trading companies, as the issues of monopoly and corporatism generated political action in the metropolis. Drawing on a range of overlooked manuscript petitions, this book explores the intersection between economics and politics by revealing the importance of economic grievances and debates to the nascent public sphere. Whilst much historiography has focused on issues of religion and high politics, this book offers a vital and fresh perspective on the period, arguing for the need to re-integrate analyses of economics into our understandings of late-Elizabethan and early-Stuart politics."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. The politics of trade: corporatism, monopolies, and protest

2. Petitioning the city and the Crown: the 1590s

3. Petitioning the new King: contesting corporations

4. Petitioning Parliament

5. Petitioning commissions: economic crisis and the making of trade policy

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from digital title page (JSTOR, viewed October 17, 2025)

Other Format:

Print version: Paterson, Ellen. Bloodsuckers of the Commonwealth.

ISBN:

9781526189097

1526189097

OCLC:

1545533561

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license