Dismembering the Body Politic Partisan Politics in England's Towns, 16501730 [Hardcover]

An account of the emergence of local partisan politics in the century after the English Civil War.This is a major survey of how towns were governed in late Stuart and early Hanoverian England.England's civil wars in the 1640s broke apart a society which had been used to political consensus. Though all sought unity after the wars ended, a new kind of politics developed---one based on partisan division, arising first in urban communities, not at Parliament. This book explains how war unleashed a long cycle of purge and counter-purge and how society found the means to absorb divisive politics peacefully. Legal changes are explored with reference to the rarely-studied records of King's Bench, to which local competitors turned for help in resolving their differences..This is a major survey of how towns were governed in late Stuart and early Hanoverian England.England's civil wars in the 1640s broke apart a society which had been used to political consensus. Though all sought unity after the wars ended, a new kind of politics developed---one based on partisan division, arising first in urban communities, not at Parliament. This book explains how war unleashed a long cycle of purge and counter-purge and how society found the means to absorb divisive politics peacefully. Legal changes are explored with reference to the rarely-studied records of King's Bench, to which local competitors turned for help in resolving their differences..This is a major survey of how towns were governed in late Stuart and early Hanoverian England. England's civil wars in the 1640s broke apart a society that had been used to political consensus. Though all sought unity after the wars ended, a new kind of politics developed--one based on partisan division, arising first in urban communities, not at Parliament. This book explains how war unleashed a long cycle of purge and counter-purge and how society found the means to absorb divisive politics peacefully. Legal changes are explored with reference l3>