The political and cultural career of Philip Sidney, Lord Viscount Lisle, Third Earl of Leicester, 1619-1698: nobility and identity in the seventeenth century

This thesis provides for the first time a detailed examination of the political and cultural career of the Philip Sidney, generally known by his courtesy title of Lord Lisle. Lord Lisle was one of the members of the court nobility who joined the parliamentarian opposition to Charles I in the 1640s and whose most eminent figures have not recently been the subject of individual biographies. Unlike the rest of his class, however, Lisle, appointed a councillor of state, supported the new governments of both the Commonwealth and Protectorate; he even returned to opposition to the crown in the Exclusion Crisis. It is suggested that such a stance was surprising, given Lisle’s descent from a family elevated to the peerage through service at court and financially dependent on court patronage. In addition, it is shown that Lisle was conscious of the requirements of noble status and sought to maintain the style of life expected of one of his class. To explain this paradox, it is argued that Lisle constructed his identity on the perceived image of his celebrated namesake and great-uncle, Sir Philip Sidney. Above all he was influenced in his move to political opposition by the reputation of Sir Philip as defender of Protestantism against the perils of popery and arbitrary government. Offering more than an account of one man’s political career and his cultural interests in art collecting and literary patronage, this thesis also provides new insights into the nature of religious affiliation in the Civil Wars and beyond, the factional politics of the mid 1640s, the inner workings of the Protectorate and the emergence of changed values after the Restoration

The political and cultural career of Philip Sidney, Lord Viscount Lisle, Third Earl of Leicester, 1619-1698: nobility and identity in the seventeenth century

This thesis provides for the first time a detailed examination of the political and cultural career of the Philip Sidney, generally known by his courtesy title of Lord Lisle. Lord Lisle was one of the members of the court nobility who joined the parliamentarian opposition to Charles I in the 1640s and whose most eminent figures have not recently been the subject of individual biographies. Unlike the rest of his class, however, Lisle, appointed a councillor of state, supported the new governments of both the Commonwealth and Protectorate; he even returned to opposition to the crown in the Exclusion Crisis. It is suggested that such a stance was surprising, given Lisle’s descent from a family elevated to the peerage through service at court and financially dependent on court patronage. In addition, it is shown that Lisle was conscious of the requirements of noble status and sought to maintain the style of life expected of one of his class. To explain this paradox, it is argued that Lisle constructed his identity on the perceived image of his celebrated namesake and great-uncle, Sir Philip Sidney. Above all he was influenced in his move to political opposition by the reputation of Sir Philip as defender of Protestantism against the perils of popery and arbitrary government. Offering more than an account of one man’s political career and his cultural interests in art collecting and literary patronage, this thesis also provides new insights into the nature of religious affiliation in the Civil Wars and beyond, the factional politics of the mid 1640s, the inner workings of the Protectorate and the emergence of changed values after the Restoration

Mead-halls of the Oiscingas: a new Kentish perspective on the Anglo-Saxon great hall complex phenomenon

Widely cited as a metaphor for the emergence of kingship in early medieval England, the great hall complex represents one of the most distinctive and evocative expressions of the Anglo-Saxon settlement record, yet interpretation of these sites remains underdeveloped and heavily weighted towards Yeavering. Inspired by the results of recent excavations at Lyminge, this paper undertakes a detailed comparative interrogation of three great hall complexes in Kent and exploits this new regional perspective to advance understanding of the agency and embodied meanings of these settlements as ‘theatres of power’. Explored through the thematic prisms of place, social memory and monumental hybridity, this examination leads to a new appreciation of the involvement of great hall sites in the genealogical strategies of 7th-century royal dynasties and a fresh perspective on how this remarkable yet short-lived monumental idiom was adapted to harness the symbolic capital of Romanitas

Trade and Exchange in Anglo-Saxon Wessex, AD 600-780

This paper assesses the provenance and general distribution of coins of the period c 600–c 780 found in the west of Anglo‐Saxon Wessex. It shows that the distribution of coin finds is not a function of the habits of metal detectorists, but a reflection of the real pattern of losses. In the second part of the paper, an analysis of the observed distributions is presented which reveals that the bulk of trade, of which the coins are a sign, was carried on through local ports and that foreign trade was not mediated through Hamwic, but came directly from the continent. The distribution of coin finds also suggests an important export trade, probably in wool and woollen goods, controlled from major local centres. There are also hints of a potentially older trade system in which hillforts and other open sites were important

Thomas of Lancaster, 1307-22

This thesis studies the career of Thomas of Lancaster from Edward II’s accession to the earl's execution in 1322. It opens with an analysis of Lancaster's ancestry, lands, wealth, and retinue, the four factors which made him the most powerful noble of his day and from which he drew his political strength. The cost and size of the retinue are discussed and it is suggested that the maintenance of a large following, together with other necessary expenditure on building and display, was mainly responsible for the earl's continuous pressure on his lands. New evidence drawn from petitions is used to show that while Lancaster may have been a generous lord to his knights his generosity could only function at the expense of his tenants and neighbours. Lack of material makes any full consideration of his economic position impossible, but from the rather fragmentary evidence available it seems likely that Lancaster, in spite of his vast lands, was in financial difficulties for much of his life. The bulk of the thesis deals with Lancaster's role in the political history of the reign. At first friendship and profit bound him to the crown, as the concessions made to him both by Edward I and his son make clear, but from 1303 onwards he was in almost continuous opposition to the king. He was probably the guiding force behind the establishment of the Ordainers and the responsibility for Gaveston's execution was almost certainly his. A dissection of the events leading to the execution and of the negotiations following it shows the pains which the opposition took to defend its actions and how its whole case rested on Gaveston's extra-legal status at the time of his death; this does something to counterbalance the usual picture of Edward II's barons as men who were entirely lacking in political ability and who were motivated only by self-interest. Continued in thesis ...</p