The Victorians and the Stuart Heritage: Interpretations of a Discordant Past
Timothy Lang
Language: English
Pages: 247
ISBN: B01FIY951C
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
This book explores how a group of nineteenth-century British historians came to terms with one of the formative periods in their nation's past--the seventeenth century in general and the era of Cromwell and the Puritans in particular. Included are well-known figures such as Macaulay and Carlyle, who are of interest to literary scholars as well as to historians, and more specialized writers such as Henry Hallam and S.R. Gardiner. The book argues that these historians found the seventeenth century problematic because of its connection with many contemporary political and, especially, religious issues.
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Revolution and the resulting alteration in the line of succession was the power of the monarch made subordinate to the law and dependent on the House of Commons. By granting the crown to William of Orange, the Convention Parliament made it clear that "the rights of the actual monarch" emanated from "the parliament and the people." What the nation gave, it could take away; if William or his heirs ever violated the fundamental rule of government and acted against the public good, then the nation,
hero for many, and Puritanism had come to be regarded as one of the formative forces shaping the development of modern England. In his Ford Lectures, delivered at Oxford in 1896, S. R. Gardiner went so far as to call Cromwell the "most typical Englishman of all time."3 Profound changes in the way a nation looks at its past must reflect deeper changes in the way it regards itself. This was certainly the case with England and the Puritans. By the close of the nineteenth century, established opinion
defeated by the same obstacle as were the Commonwealthmen. His usurpation was unpopular and to maintain power in the face of such opposition he was forced to resort to violent means. After dismissing the Long Parliament, his government became notoriously arbitrary.27 And yet Godwin saw more in Cromwell than a self-serving usurper who trampled on the virtuous republic solely to promote his own ambition. He was an Independent, sincere in his religious beliefs, concerned with improving the moral
with a "Treatise on the Popular Progress in English History" that chronicled the growing political importance of the "people" from the granting of Magna Carta through the reign of Queen Elizabeth, a process which entailed creating a limited monarchy, developing the rights and privileges of Parliament and increasing the importance of popular liberties and representation. Forster clearly considered this "popular progress" to be the fundamental dynamic in English history and by emphasizing its
responsible for shaping the nation were primarily intellectual. The acts of individuals only became intelligible when seen in the context of the religious, political, scientific and artistic thought of the age. For this reason, Gardiner stressed in his own work the growth and conflict of ideas. To understand the making of England in the seventeenth century, one had to comprehend the interaction of Anglicanism and of Puritanism, of Royalism and Parliamentarianism. The historian's task was to rid