Originally published in 1977, this book investigates the controversial question as to whether England has seen two industrial revolutions, whether economic changes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in England deserve to be distinguished as a period in which an economic ‘revolution’ nearly took place, but eventually aborted. The book considers the changes that took place in the most important industries in the period and estimates the significance of these changes for the overall structure of the English economy. It also assesses the attitudes of the various historians involved in the debate and the nature of the evidence on which their arguments have been based. The combination of critical assessment in the introduction and the evidence of the 34 original documents will guarantee a wide readership of the book among students and teachers of economic history.

It is now over 100 years since Cunningham wrote Alien Immigrants to England, which focused heavily upon the impact of immigration in later 16th and early 17th century England: it has yet to be supplanted by a comprehensive, up-to-date survey. Although much research has been completed on the subject, particularly during the past three decades, relatively little of this has appeared in mainstream history journals, while more general surveys have tended to concentrate upon the second wave of migration that followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

A rare examination of the political, social, and economic contexts in which painters in Tudor and Early Stuart England lived and workedWhile famous artists such as Holbein, Rubens, or Van Dyck are all known for their creative periods in England or their employment at the English court, they still had to make ends meet, as did the less well-known practitioners of their craft. This book, by one of the leading historians of Tudor and Stuart England, sheds light on the daily concerns, practices, and activities of many of these painters. Drawing on a biographical database comprising nearly 3000 painters and craftsmen - strangers and native English, Londoners and provincial townsmen, men and sometimes women, celebrity artists and 'mere painters' - this book offers an account of what it meant to paint for a living in early modern England. It considers the origins of these painters as well as their geographical location, the varieties of their expertise, and the personnel and spatial arrangements of their workshops. Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.Engagingly written, the book captures a sense of mobility and exchange between England and the continent through the considerable influence of stranger-painters, undermining traditional notions about the insular character of this phase in the history of English art. By showing how painters responded to the greater political, religious, and economic upheavals of the time, the study refracts the history of England itself through the lens of this particular occupation.

This pamphlet examines recent research into the poor laws of Tudor and Stuart England. Dr Beier asks the question ‘who were the poor?’ and in answering it places the ‘problem of the poor’ in its historical context, examining it in relation to medieval provisions for dealing with poverty. He shows how far legislation was influenced by economic changes, by ideas about poverty and by the interests of the legislators themselves. Dr Beier evaluates the varying interpretations of the poor laws, from those who have seen them as an early ‘welfare state’ to those who have considered them to be the manifestation of a ‘Protestant ethic’. The major poor-law statues are summarized in an appendix, and there is a useful bibliography.

This book examines the development of the English state during the long seventeenth century, emphasising the impersonal forces which shape the uses of political power, rather than the purposeful actions of individuals or groups. It is a study of state formation rather than of state building. The author's approach does not however rule out the possibility of discerning patterns in the development of the state, and a coherent account emerges which offers some alternative answers to relatively well-established questions. In particular, it is argued that the development of the state in this period was shaped in important ways by social interests - particularly those of class, gender and age. It is also argued that this period saw significant changes in the form and functioning of the state which were, in some sense, modernising. The book therefore offers a narrative of the development of the state in the aftermath of revisionism.