Recollection in the Republics : memories of the British Civil Wars in England, 1649-1659
This thesis explores the ways the British Civil Wars were remembered in England between the execution of Charles I in January 1649 and the return of the Purged Parliament in December 1659. While over the last decade the mental afterlife of Britainâs major domestic conflicts has become an area of significant scholarly interest, existing studies have focused almost exclusively on the period after 1660. This thesis redresses this imbalance and provides the first detailed study of the memorial culture of Englandâs republican interval. Uniquely, among studies of this kind, this thesis considers attempts to frame the public memory of the recent past, both by the governments and their opponents, alongside evidence of what diverse ordinary people actually were remembering. It broadens the field of study beyond the traditional focus on printed histories and memoirs, deploying a varied and innovative source base that includes court records, petitions, diaries, civic records, and material culture, as well as a wide range of printed texts. In so doing, it reveals the myriad ways that the events of 1642 to 1651 were remembered, the various purposes that these recollections served, and the diverse communities of memory
Peck, Imogen
Recollection in the Republics : memories of the British Civil Wars in England, 1649-1659. This thesis explores the ways the British Civil Wars were remembered in England between the execution of Charles I in January 1649 and the return of the Purged Parliament in December 1659. While over the last decade the mental afterlife of Britainâs major domestic conflicts has become an area of significant scholarly interest, existing studies have focused almost exclusively on the period after 1660. This thesis redresses this imbalance and provides the first detailed study of the memorial culture of Englandâs republican interval. Uniquely, among studies of this kind, this thesis considers attempts to frame the public memory of the recent past, both by the governments and their opponents, alongside evidence of what diverse ordinary people actually were remembering. It broadens the field of study beyond the traditional focus on printed histories and memoirs, deploying a varied and innovative source base that includes court records, petitions, diaries, civic records, and material culture, as well as a wide range of printed texts. In so doing, it reveals the myriad ways that the events of 1642 to 1651 were remembered, the various purposes that these recollections served, and the diverse communities of memory
recollection memory british civil wars england explores_way british civil wars remember england execution charles return parliament mental afterlife britain major domestic conflict become area significant scholarly_interest exist study_focus almost_exclusively period redress_imbalance provide_first detail_study memorial culture england republican interval uniquely among study kind considers attempt frame public memory recent_past government opponent alongside evidence diverse ordinary_people actually remember broadens field study beyond_traditional focus print history memoir deploy varied innovative source base include court_record petition diary civic record material_culture well wide_range print text reveals myriad way event remember various purpose recollection serve diverse community memory