travesties and transgressions in tudor and stuart england tales of discord and dissension

[...]... book brings to life some of the strangest and most troubling incidents from the byways of Tudor and Stuart England Through a series of linked stories and close readings of local texts and narratives, it examines the ways in which early modern society coped with cultural difficulties and dealt with bewildering phenomena Among the topics under discussion are bestiality and monstrous births, seduction and. .. of meaning’ and to explore its complex ‘ways of thinking’.6 Italian historians have adopted the label ‘micro-history’ to describe a technique of extracting large and demanding questions from small and unpromising beginnings, and English historians are adept at case studies and incisive accounts of particular episodes.7 The archives are full of surprises, stores of stories, and almost any point of entry... ‘tongue-smiting’ as part of the price of their calling Honour was once again at issue, along with matters of pastoral style and social discipline Chapter , ‘The Atheist’s Sermon: Belief, Unbelief, and Traditionalism in the Elizabethan North’, concerns a Nottinghamshire landowner who was accused in  of a slate of offences including atheism, slander, brawling, and conjuring Perhaps his gravest offence, which... violation of nature, and when credulous Catholics gained ground by exploiting a dubious story Abnormal births and bestial intrusions were shocking reminders of the unpredictability of the universe and of the power of hidden forces to subvert everyday routines At times of crisis they assumed political dimensions, as auguries of ‘alteration of kingdoms’ and portents of ‘destruction of princes’.27 It should... governors of Tudor and Stuart England The following chapters indicate how well they succeeded in bringing it under control Chapter , ‘Agnes Bowker’s Cat: Childbirth, Seduction, Bestiality, and Lies’, examines the claims and confusions when a woman in Leicestershire in  allegedly gave birth to a cat We have testimony from midwives and market women, servants and shopkeepers, clerics and magistrates, and. .. history of Tudor and Stuart England I, too, of course, am the author of these stories At least, each chapter is mine I have taken an incident, a tale, a dispute, or a dilemma as my starting point, and have then read everything else that the archives and libraries can offer to help me make sense of it Sometimes it is like pulling on a tangle of thread to see what unravels, though there is also an element of. .. Hastings, rather than to his ecclesiastical superiors in the Diocese of Lincoln Anthony Anderson was a rising evangelist minister,29 and Hastings a patron of puritans Grindal was known for his Protestant activism, which in  would win him the archbishopric of York, and Cecil, by no means a puritan, was staunchly Protestant and alert to the dangers of popular Catholicism.30 None of the principals in. .. the actors and tellers of stories Whereas my last book, Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion, and the Life-Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England (), dealt largely with routine rituals and normal expectations, Travesties and Transgressions is concerned with abnormal circumstances and rituals that went wrong By investigating peculiar occurrences, extraordinary phenomena, and what Shakespeare described... pamphlet literature, and ends up in the files of Elizabethan Privy Councillors Along the way it raises questions of truth-telling and evidence, credulity and credibility, authenticity and verification, and the elusiveness of historical narrative It is a story that links the concerns of local worthies and central governors, lay and ecclesiastical magistrates, and the intersecting spheres of men and women It is... of Huntingdon,  proceeded normally, with midwife and other mothers in attendance, until the horror of the monstrous feline birth I am quoting the testimony in the order that it was heard by the court, rather than reconstituting it into some kind of master chronology, in order to better understand how the story unfolded to its original hearers and readers By laying this out with minimal processing, . class="bi x0 y0 w1 h1" alt="" TRAVESTIES AND TRANSGRESSIONS IN TUDOR AND STUART ENGLAND TRAVESTIES AND TRANSGRESSIONS IN TUDOR AND STUART ENGLAND Tales of Discord and Dissension David Cressy   1 3 Great. David. Travesties and transgressions in Tudor and Stuart England : tales of discord and dissension / David Cressy. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. . England Social life and customs—th. Kong Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, Guldford and Kings Lynn To see a World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold In nity in the palm of your hand And