Rachel Hammersley
Biographic Data
| ID | 4585950 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rachel Hammersley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rachel |
| FAMILY NAME | Hammersley |
| SIGNATURE | HAMMERSLEY R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Newcastle University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7133-4732 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 80 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Radical Politics and Print Culture in Newcastle, C. 1770–1832
When the Newcastle-born radical Thomas Spence moved to London in 1788 he is said to have claimed that the capital ‘was the only place where a man of talent could display his powers’. This may have been the case, but Spence had already formed his ideas – and his innovative methods for disseminating them – before he left. The unusual periodical format he deployed in Pigs’ Meat, his interest in language and linguistics, and his emphasis on making wr…
Liberty as Independence , Citizenship, and Reform
The Limits of Harrington’s Republicanism
While Harrington was a republican of a certain kind, his thought was not always typical of this discourse, resulting in conflict with other republicans of the time. The chapter demonstrates that Harrington did not see his model as incompatible with a single figurehead. The Lord Archon in Oceana acts both as legislator and as princely ruler or doge. Harrington was then a pluralist, not an exclusivist, republican, more concerned with the exercise o…
The Supporter of Parliament
Knowledge of Harrington’s life prior to the publication of The Commonwealth of Oceana in 1656 has generally been acknowledged to be limited. While not challenging that point, Chapter 2 argues that more evidence is available than has previously been recognized. It traces Harrington’s activities from the 1630s through to 1656, focusing in particular on the financial and administrative support that he offered to Parliament during the 1640s. This inc…
Innovation in Substance: ‘Empire follows the Balance of Property’
Chapter 6 focuses on Harrington’s innovative theory regarding the relationship between land and political power. It asserts the novelty of the theory, as claimed by Harrington and acknowledged by others, as well as its relationship to Harrington’s wider innovation of designing a large state republic. The chapter then elucidates the key elements of Harrington’s theory, its implications for his typology of government, and its application to England…
Innovation in Style
While Harrington is best known as a political writer, he began his career as a poet. Chapter 8 argues that he never gave up his literary interests, that his political and literary writings were intertwined, and that his substantive arguments were reflected in the vocabulary and form of his works. Harrington coined new words or adapted old ones to reflect the revolutionary changes of the time. Both his hybrid constitutional vocabulary and Oceana’s…
Timeline of Harrington’s Life and Works
Subject Early Modern History (1500 to 1700) Social and Cultural History Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online
Copyright Page
The Rota Club
Chapter 14 offers a novel and comprehensive account of the Rota Club, established by Harrington in the autumn of 1659. As well as seizing the opportunity for political speculation, the Rota Club took Harrington’s experimentation with form to a new level. It provided a means of putting into practice two of the more controversial elements of Harrington’s programme: open and inclusive membership of the citizen body, and the debating and balloting pr…
Conclusion
The Conclusion explores the gains of approaching Harrington from beyond the republican paradigm. In the first place, we see more clearly the complexity and atypicality of Harrington’s republicanism, and even the possibility of characterizing him as a democrat. Secondly, it is evident that Harrington was neither wholly ancient nor thoroughly modern, but cut a distinctive path between the two. Moreover, his pursuit of a middle way is also reflected…
The Agent of Monarchy
Chapter 3 explores the ways in which Harrington maintained and extended his family’s long-standing connections with the Stuarts. He did so first as ‘agent’ to the Prince Elector Palatine Charles Louis, son of Elizabeth of Bohemia, handling his funds and delivering a Humble Remonstrance on his behalf. This role may have led to the choice of Harrington as gentleman of the bedchamber to the captive Charles I. In both cases Harrington was in an ambig…
Innovation in Substance: Democracy
The emergence of modern democracy has tended to be associated with the eighteenth rather than the seventeenth century. Yet, as Chapter 7 shows, the English Revolution not only provoked proto-democratic ideas among the Levellers, but also led Harrington to embrace both the terminology and the substance of democracy. Harrington deliberately used this term to describe his model constitution, thereby tarnishing the ‘oligarchic’ pretensions of his opp…
Controversies Concerning Religion
Harrington very deliberately engaged in a number of high-profile religious debates during the late 1650s in order to defend and advance the vision of a civil religion that was central to his account of an equal commonwealth as set out in Oceana. Alongside debates concerning the nature of the commonwealth of Israel discussed previously, Harrington engaged in religious controversies over ordination within the early church and the proper relationshi…
The Family Man
After setting out the limited range of sources available that provide information on Harrington’s life, Chapter 1 explores his family connections and early years. Detail is provided on his immediate family background and the close interaction between him and his siblings as reflected in testamentary evidence. Attention is also paid to the origins of the relationship between the Harrington family and the Stuarts, especially Charles I’s sister Prin…
Controversies About History
Harrington engaged in controversy over particular historical models, over appropriate historical methodology, and over the relevance of history to politics. He sought not merely to impose past models in the present, but to use research into the past to inform present judgement. Harrington treated the commonwealth of Israel like any other ancient model, and emphasized its Erastianism and, more controversially, its democratic character. Sparta too …
Harrington’s Republicanism
Chapter 4 focuses on the nature of Harrington’s republicanism and the key features of his ‘equal commonwealth’. It begins by examining the complex publishing history of Oceana and the political and intellectual context in which that work was written. It then traces Harrington’s commitment to key features of commonwealth government: his use of republican models ancient and modern, his adoption of the neo-Roman understanding of liberty and his conf…
Dedication
Controversies About Philosophy
Chapter 12 argues that Harrington’s natural philosophy was fundamental to his political philosophy and underpinned his entire programme. Harrington opposed the mechanical understanding of politics and interventionist account of religion advanced by Oxford mathematicians such as John Wilkins. Instead he emphasized the connections between the individual, the state or body politic, and the universe. All three comprised material and philosophical (hu…
Controversies Concerning Politics
Political debate was particularly important to Harrington. He not only advocated it in his political model but also used his writings to provoke it, believing that debate would bring positive benefits for society. Chapter 9 explores how Harrington provoked debate, before examining his engagement with royalist, republican, and Leveller opponents. While his debates with royalists tended to focus on the respective merits of monarchy and popular gove…
Life After 1660
Harrington’s political writings appear to have ceased with the Restoration of Charles II, but his alleged involvement with the Bow Street commonwealth club led him to be arrested in November 1661, interrogated and imprisoned. While he was eventually released, the experience affected his health, and there is no evidence of his engaging in writing or politics after this time. At some point during the 1660s he married Anne Darrell, who is described …
Engaging with Politicians
Harrington’s theory about the relationship between land and political power was mentioned several times in parliamentary debates in February 1659 and used to refute calls for a return to the government of King, Lords, and Commons. Nonetheless, Richard Cromwell’s position as chief magistrate was deemed compatible with Harringtonian theory. Harringtonian arguments were also brought to bear on the various constitutional proposals put forward that ye…
James Harrington: An Intellectual Biography
James Harrington was a significant political and intellectual figure of the mid-seventeenth century, whose life and works embody the complex and contested web of political, religious and cultural ideas that lay at the heart of the English Revolution. His innovative constitutional proposals exercised a profound influence on political debate during that period and for at least two centuries thereafter, and his insights - particularly on democracy -…
Political Thought, History of
Revolutionary Moments: Reading Revolutionary Texts
Since at least the mid-seventeenth century, the concept of revolution has been an important tool both for those seeking to bring about political change and for those trying to understand it. And it is as relevant today as it has ever been. This volume re-evaluates our understanding of the history of revolutionary thought by examining a selection of key texts. These range from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, and are carefully chosen to i…
Concepts of citizenship in France during the long eighteenth century
François Furet famously described the French Revolution as 'the first experiment with democracy', and modern French citizenship is often seen as having emerged during this period. Universal male suffrage was practised for the first time in 1792 and the Revolution also witnessed debate over such issues as: the rights of citizens; the extension of the franchise to poorer inhabitants and black slaves; and even whether women should be given political…
James Harrington: An Intellectual Biography
James Harrington was a significant political and intellectual figure of the mid-seventeenth century, whose life and works embody the complex and contested web of political, religious and cultural ideas that lay at the heart of the English Revolution. His innovative constitutional proposals exercised a profound influence on political debate during that period and for at least two centuries thereafter, and his insights - particularly on democracy -…
The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies
In 1989, the celebration of the bicentenary of the French Revolution, coupled with the eruption of revolutions in Eastern Europe, prompted a surge of publicity for, and public interest in, the Fren
Camille Desmoulins's Le Vieux Cordelier: A link between English and French republicanism
Camille Desmoulins's Le Vieux Cordelier is one of the best known newspapers of the French Revolution. Yet, despite this, there has long been uncertainty over the intellectual content of the newspaper and, in particular, over Desmoulins's use of Tacitean passages to support his views. This article seeks to shed light on this important newspaper by setting it not just in the context of the debates of the winter of 1793–1794, but also in that of the…
Concepts of citizenship in France during the long eighteenth century
François Furet famously described the French Revolution as 'the first experiment with democracy', and modern French citizenship is often seen as having emerged during this period. Universal male suffrage was practised for the first time in 1792 and the Revolution also witnessed debate over such issues as: the rights of citizens; the extension of the franchise to poorer inhabitants and black slaves; and even whether women should be given political…
Jean-Paul Marat's the Chains of Slavery in Britain and France, 1774–1833
Originally published in London in 1774 and subsequently republished in French in 1793 and 1833, Marat's The chains of slavery offers an interesting case study on the exchange of ideas between Britain and France during the late eighteenth century. It is suggested that the key to understanding this hitherto neglected work lies in reading it alongside other publications by Marat from the 1770s and in setting it firmly in the context in which it was …
Rethinking the Political Thought of James Harrington: Royalism, Republicanism and Democracy
Traditional accounts of seventeenth-century English republicanism have usually presented it as inherently anti-monarchical and anti-democratic. This article seeks to challenge and complicate this picture by exploring James Harrington's views on royalism, republicanism and democracy. Building on recent assertions about Harrington's distinctiveness as a republican thinker, the article suggests that the focus on Harrington's republicanism has served…
English Republicanism in Revolutionary France: The Case of the Cordelier Club
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Camille Desmoulins's Le Vieux Cordelier: A link between English and French republicanism
Camille Desmoulins's Le Vieux Cordelier is one of the best known newspapers of the French Revolution. Yet, despite this, there has long been uncertainty over the intellectual content of the newspaper and, in particular, over Desmoulins's use of Tacitean passages to support his views. This article seeks to shed light on this important newspaper by setting it not just in the context of the debates of the winter of 1793–1794, but also in that of the…
The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies
In 1989, the celebration of the bicentenary of the French Revolution, coupled with the eruption of revolutions in Eastern Europe, prompted a surge of publicity for, and public interest in, the Fren
English Republicanism in Revolutionary France: The Case of the Cordelier Club
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Jean-Paul Marat's the Chains of Slavery in Britain and France, 1774–1833
Originally published in London in 1774 and subsequently republished in French in 1793 and 1833, Marat's The chains of slavery offers an interesting case study on the exchange of ideas between Britain and France during the late eighteenth century. It is suggested that the key to understanding this hitherto neglected work lies in reading it alongside other publications by Marat from the 1770s and in setting it firmly in the context in which it was …
The Debate on the French Revolution (review)
The English Republican tradition and eighteenth-century France: Between the Ancients and the Moderns
This text offers an account of the role played by 17th- and 18th-century English Republican ideas in 18th-century France. Challenging some of the dominant accounts of the Republican tradition, it revises conventional understandings of what Republicanism meant in both Britain and France during the 18th century.
Introduction: The Historiography of Republicanism and Republican Exchanges
Though the history of republicanism has been a popular topic of research since the mid-twentieth century, there are still various issues and areas that have remained neglected—not least the exchange of republican ideas from one cultural context to another, particularly across national boundaries. The purpose of this special issue is to offer some exploration of this neglected area, and this essay serves as an introduction to it. The essay offers …
English Republicanism and the French Revolution
Rethinking the Political Thought of James Harrington: Royalism, Republicanism and Democracy
Traditional accounts of seventeenth-century English republicanism have usually presented it as inherently anti-monarchical and anti-democratic. This article seeks to challenge and complicate this picture by exploring James Harrington's views on royalism, republicanism and democracy. Building on recent assertions about Harrington's distinctiveness as a republican thinker, the article suggests that the focus on Harrington's republicanism has served…
Political Thought, History of
Revolutionary Moments: Reading Revolutionary Texts
Since at least the mid-seventeenth century, the concept of revolution has been an important tool both for those seeking to bring about political change and for those trying to understand it. And it is as relevant today as it has ever been. This volume re-evaluates our understanding of the history of revolutionary thought by examining a selection of key texts. These range from the seventeenth to the twentieth century, and are carefully chosen to i…
Concepts of citizenship in France during the long eighteenth century
François Furet famously described the French Revolution as 'the first experiment with democracy', and modern French citizenship is often seen as having emerged during this period. Universal male suffrage was practised for the first time in 1792 and the Revolution also witnessed debate over such issues as: the rights of citizens; the extension of the franchise to poorer inhabitants and black slaves; and even whether women should be given political…
The Limits of Harrington’s Republicanism
While Harrington was a republican of a certain kind, his thought was not always typical of this discourse, resulting in conflict with other republicans of the time. The chapter demonstrates that Harrington did not see his model as incompatible with a single figurehead. The Lord Archon in Oceana acts both as legislator and as princely ruler or doge. Harrington was then a pluralist, not an exclusivist, republican, more concerned with the exercise o…
The Supporter of Parliament
Knowledge of Harrington’s life prior to the publication of The Commonwealth of Oceana in 1656 has generally been acknowledged to be limited. While not challenging that point, Chapter 2 argues that more evidence is available than has previously been recognized. It traces Harrington’s activities from the 1630s through to 1656, focusing in particular on the financial and administrative support that he offered to Parliament during the 1640s. This inc…
Innovation in Substance: ‘Empire follows the Balance of Property’
Chapter 6 focuses on Harrington’s innovative theory regarding the relationship between land and political power. It asserts the novelty of the theory, as claimed by Harrington and acknowledged by others, as well as its relationship to Harrington’s wider innovation of designing a large state republic. The chapter then elucidates the key elements of Harrington’s theory, its implications for his typology of government, and its application to England…
Innovation in Style
While Harrington is best known as a political writer, he began his career as a poet. Chapter 8 argues that he never gave up his literary interests, that his political and literary writings were intertwined, and that his substantive arguments were reflected in the vocabulary and form of his works. Harrington coined new words or adapted old ones to reflect the revolutionary changes of the time. Both his hybrid constitutional vocabulary and Oceana’s…
Timeline of Harrington’s Life and Works
Subject Early Modern History (1500 to 1700) Social and Cultural History Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online
Copyright Page
The Rota Club
Chapter 14 offers a novel and comprehensive account of the Rota Club, established by Harrington in the autumn of 1659. As well as seizing the opportunity for political speculation, the Rota Club took Harrington’s experimentation with form to a new level. It provided a means of putting into practice two of the more controversial elements of Harrington’s programme: open and inclusive membership of the citizen body, and the debating and balloting pr…
Conclusion
The Conclusion explores the gains of approaching Harrington from beyond the republican paradigm. In the first place, we see more clearly the complexity and atypicality of Harrington’s republicanism, and even the possibility of characterizing him as a democrat. Secondly, it is evident that Harrington was neither wholly ancient nor thoroughly modern, but cut a distinctive path between the two. Moreover, his pursuit of a middle way is also reflected…
The Agent of Monarchy
Chapter 3 explores the ways in which Harrington maintained and extended his family’s long-standing connections with the Stuarts. He did so first as ‘agent’ to the Prince Elector Palatine Charles Louis, son of Elizabeth of Bohemia, handling his funds and delivering a Humble Remonstrance on his behalf. This role may have led to the choice of Harrington as gentleman of the bedchamber to the captive Charles I. In both cases Harrington was in an ambig…
Innovation in Substance: Democracy
The emergence of modern democracy has tended to be associated with the eighteenth rather than the seventeenth century. Yet, as Chapter 7 shows, the English Revolution not only provoked proto-democratic ideas among the Levellers, but also led Harrington to embrace both the terminology and the substance of democracy. Harrington deliberately used this term to describe his model constitution, thereby tarnishing the ‘oligarchic’ pretensions of his opp…
Controversies Concerning Religion
Harrington very deliberately engaged in a number of high-profile religious debates during the late 1650s in order to defend and advance the vision of a civil religion that was central to his account of an equal commonwealth as set out in Oceana. Alongside debates concerning the nature of the commonwealth of Israel discussed previously, Harrington engaged in religious controversies over ordination within the early church and the proper relationshi…
The Family Man
After setting out the limited range of sources available that provide information on Harrington’s life, Chapter 1 explores his family connections and early years. Detail is provided on his immediate family background and the close interaction between him and his siblings as reflected in testamentary evidence. Attention is also paid to the origins of the relationship between the Harrington family and the Stuarts, especially Charles I’s sister Prin…
Controversies About History
Harrington engaged in controversy over particular historical models, over appropriate historical methodology, and over the relevance of history to politics. He sought not merely to impose past models in the present, but to use research into the past to inform present judgement. Harrington treated the commonwealth of Israel like any other ancient model, and emphasized its Erastianism and, more controversially, its democratic character. Sparta too …
Political science (21 works) · History (18 works) · Law (14 works) · Philosophy (14 works) · Politics (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · European Political History Analysis (8 works) · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis (8 works) · Political Theory and Influence (8 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (7 works)