Great Britain - General & Miscellaneous History, 17th Century British History - Stuart Restoration, 1660-1714, 17th Century British History - Stuart Dynasty, 1603-1649

Stuart England

Name: Stuart England
Author: J. P. Kenyon
ISBN: 9780140137682

by J. P. Kenyon

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Overview

When the century opened, England was a comparatively poor nation on the fringes of Europe. When it closed, she was one of the major powers. Along the way the country had surmounted a civil war and a major rebellion. Yer her institutions and social structure were, if anything, strengthened: In fact, during this century Parliament evolved into something approaching its present form and function, and the great philosophers Hobbes and Locke fashioned new and far-reaching theories of political obligation to accommodate it. At the same time, scientists, led by Newton, were causing a reappraisal of the way the physical world was viewed, and radicals like John Liburne were (prematurely) laying the foundations of proletarian socialism.