|
|
|
| The Reconstruction of Citizen’s Memory: Historical Discourses and Collective Identity in Early Modern London |
| Sun Chao |
| School of Humanities, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China |
|
|
|
|
Abstract Most historians hold the view that the historical memory of London was reshaped and adapted to Protestant prevalence in early modern England, especially when the fact that the London government allied with the Puritans to struggle with the King in 1640 was considered. However, such an explanation is problematic and relatively simple. And dynamic comprehension on the Protestantization of historical memory of London, particularly the neutral inclination towards the rewriting of London history in early times, is of great importance. Besides, in the process of Protestant historical memory formation, the traditionalists such as King Charles I intervened, which propelled a gradual radical reaction of London deviating from the neutral position. This evolving situation has been rarely discussed by researchers, and it is therefore the main point of this thesis.In 1529, King Henry VIII accepted Thomas Cromwell and other Protestants’ advice to initiate English Reformation for his divorce with Queen Katherine. From then on, traditional historical memory established on the basis of medieval cult of saints was severely affected. Thousands of youths swarmed into the city of London and became the main force getting involved into the Reformation movement. With serious threats at home and abroad and the failure of traditional chronicles to meet the needs of new memory writing, the historical narratives formed since late Middle Ages had broken up, and London citizens’ identity also inevitably encountered a crisis. For the maintenance of its stability and prosperity, London Guildhall set up three historical scribes — City Remembrancer, City Recorder and City Viewer, to record the city’s development and history. They compiled historical documents for the city, thus provided judgement criteria and discourse materials for reference. However, historical scribes were mostly part-time officials and they could not afford full energy to reconstruct citizens’ historical memory. Under that circumstance, the Guildhall hired John Stow to write London’s first general history A Survey of London from 1573 to 1598. Anthony Munday promoted two revised editions of A Survey of London after Stow’s death. Stow and Munday hence essentially shaped a “neutralized” tradition of writing London citizens’ history to minimize the influence of religious conflicts on the city’s cohesiveness. In the early Seventeenth Century, London citizens utilized Stow’s texts to make new physical memories and public rituals, they also created pro-Protestant burial rituals, citizen portraits and the activities of Mayor’s Day. Although the city administrators preserved the elements of traditional religion for the adaptation of varieties of citizen origins, an image of a Protestant London was established. London had a more complicated relationship with the crown. The city of London played a fundamental role in every succession to the throne since English Reformation, which meant that a pro-monarchy London was essential to the King. Consequently, in the course of reconstructing urban memories, the crown always got involved. But, because of the sustained development of Puritanism and the failed relationship between Stuart kings and London citizens, the Puritans were discontented with the control of citizens’ life and urban landscape by the monarchy. In the meantime, the Stuart rulers insisted on the Divine Right of the King, and disrespected citizens’ rights. That stimulated a radicalized citizen memory, and the citizens struggled for their historical narratives and space memories with the kings, which led to a turning point concerned with the relationship between the two parties, that is, from sharing memories to competing with each other for that. In 1642, the English Civil War broke out and the Protestants dominated London citizens’ memory from then on because Charles I fled his Capital City. While in early modern Europe, some Protestant cities avidly propelled the Protestantization and ignored to create a stable relationship with the Catholics, thus had to confront themselves with social divisions. In a word, the reconstruction of London citizens’ memories experienced a continual “neutralized Protestantized → moderately Protestantized → radically Protestantized” transition. The transition prevented the city of London from dropping into social polarization sharply, and kept London prosperous and stable for a relatively long time, but it could not avoid the outbreak of the English Civil War.
|
|
Received: 20 June 2020
|
|
|
|
1 Johnson R.， The Nine Worthies of London， London： ［s. n. ］， 1592.
2 Ramsay G. D.， The City of London in International Politics at the Accession of Elizabeth， Manchester： Manchester University Press， 1975.
3 Milles T.， The Customer’s Alphabet， London： ［s. n. ］， 1608.
4 Beier A. L. & Finlay R. （eds. ）， London 1500-1700： The Making of the Metropolis， London & New York： Longman， 1986.
5 Rappaport S. L.， Worlds Within Worlds： Structures of Life in Sixteenth-Century London， New York： Cambridge University Press， 1989.
6 Archer I.， The Pursuit of Stability： Social Relations in Elizabethan London， New York： Cambridge University Press， 1991.
7 Sacks D. H.， “London’s dominion： the metropolis， the market economy， and the state，” in Orlin L. C. （ed. ）， Material London， ca. 1600， Philadelphia： University of Pennsylvania Press， 2000， pp. 20-54.
8 Merritt J. F. （ed. ）， Imagining Early Modern London： Perceptions and Portrayals of the City from Stow to Strype 1598-1720， New York： Cambridge University Press， 2001.
9 Gadd I. A. & Gillespie A. （eds. ）， John Stow （1525-1605） and the Making of the English Past， London： British Library， 2004.
10 Tittler R.， “Portraiture， precedence and politics amongst the London liveries c. 1540-1640，” Urban History， Vol. 35， No. 3 （2008）， pp. 349-362.
11 Hill T.， Pageantry and Power： A Cultural History of the Early Modern Lord Mayor’s Show 1585-1639， Manchester： Manchester University Press， 2011.
12 Cressy D.， Travesties and Transgressions in Tudor and Stuart England， Oxford： Oxford University Press， 2000.
13 Brigden S.， London and the Reformation， New York： Oxford University Press， 1991.
14 Levy F. J.， Tudor Historical Thought， Toronto： University of Toronto Press， 2004.
15 Holinshed R.， Chronicles of England， Scotland， and Ireland， vol. 2， London： ［s. n. ］， 1807-1808.
16 Woolf D. R.， “Genre into artifact： the decline of the English chronicle in the sixteenth century，” The Sixteenth Century Journal， Vol. 19， No. 3 （1988）， pp. 321-354.
17 Cain P.， “Robert Smith and the reform of the archives of the city of London， 1580-1623，” London Journal， Vol. 13， No. 1 （1987-1988）， pp. 3-16.
18 Stow J.， A Survey of London， Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1908.
19 Hughes P. L. & Larkin J. F. （eds. ）， Tudor Royal Proclamation， vol. 2， New Haven： Yale University Press， 1969.
20 Bruce J. （ed. ）， Diary of John Manningham， of the Middle Temple， and of Bradbourne， Kent， Barrister-at-Law， 1602-1603， London： Nichols for Camden Society， 1868.
21 Hill T.， Anthony Munday and Civic Culture， Manchester： Manchester University Press， 2012.
22 Jones N. L.， The English Reformation： Religious and Cultural Adaptation， Oxford： Wiley-Blackwell， 2002.
23 McClure N. E. （ed. ）， The Letters of John Chamberlain， vol. 2， Philadelphia： The American Philosophical Society， 1939.
24 Holbein H.， “Henry VIII presenting a charter to the Barber Surgeons Company，” https：//www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw58137/Henry-VIII-Presenting-a-Charter-to-the-Barber-Surgeons-Company， 2021-01-23.
25 Heywood H.， Dramatics Works of Thomas Heywood， vol. 4， London： University of California Libraries， 1874.
26 Prideaux W. S.， Memorials of the Goldsmiths’ Company， vol. 1， London： Eyre & Spottiswoode， 1896-1897.
27 Heywood T.， Londini Artium & Scientiarum Scaturigo， or London’s Fountaine of Arts and Sciences， London： Nicholas Okes， 1632.
28 Taylor J.， Prince Charles His Welcome from Spanish， London： ［s. n. ］， 1623.
29 Middleton T.， The Triumphs of Truth， London： Nicholas Okes， 1613.
30 Middleton T.， The Triumphs of Health and Prosperity， London： ［s. n. ］， 1617.
31 Munday A.， Metropolis Coronata， London： George Purslowe， 1615.
32 Munday A.， The Triumphs of Re-united Britannia， London： ［s. n. ］， 1605.
33 Camden W.， Britannia， or a Chorographical Description of Great Britain and Ireland， Together with the Adjacent Islands， London： ［s. n. ］， 1722.
34 Dillon J.， Theater， Court and City， 1595-1610： Drama and Social Space in London， Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 2000.
35 Helgerson R.， Forms of Nationhood： The Elizabethan Writing of England， Chicago： University of Chicago Press， 1992.
36 Nordon J.， Speculi Britanniae Pars： An Historical and Chorographical Description of the County of Essex， London： Camden Society， 1901.
37 Wilbraham R.， The Journal of Sir Roger Wilbraham， London： Office of the Society， 1902.
38 Neale J. E.， Elizabeth I and Her Parliaments， New York： St Martin’s Press， 1957.
39 Merritt J. F.， “Puritans， Laudians， and the phenomenon of church-building in Jacobean London，” The Historical Journal， Vol. 41， No. 4 （1998）， pp. 935-960.
40 Nicholas J. （ed. ）， The Progresses， Processions， and Magnificent Festivities， of King James the First： His Royal Consort， Family， and Court， vol. 4， London： J. B. Nichols， 1828.
41 Robertson J.， “Stuart London and the idea of a royal capital city，” Renaissance Studies， Vol. 15， No. 1 （2001）， pp. 37-58.
42 Seaver P. S.， Wallington’s World： A Puritan Artisan in Seventeenth-Century London， Stanford： Stanford University Press， 1985.
43 Anon.， The Downe-fall of Dagon， or the Beating Down of Cheap-side Cross， London： ［s. n. ］， 1643. |
|
|
|
2021, Vol. 51 
