Organized Violence in the E lizabethan M onarchical R epublic

Bibliographic Data

ID9876938
AuthorsR Malcolm Smuts (0000-0002-7012-4637, University of Massachusetts Boston, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume99
Issue336
Pages418-443
Publication date2014-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2648 • E-ISSN: 1468-229X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/1468-229x.12063
OpenAlexW1950595906
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited33

This article argues that the T udor concept of E ngland as a P rotestant commonwealth normally implied a belief in the legitimacy and necessity of armed violence against enemies of G od and the public good. In the absence of a standing army the instruments of such violence had to be mobilized partly through the voluntary efforts of subjects who regarded warfare as a form of public service. The article goes on to explore how ideas and practices of armed violence shaped government policies in E ngland and I reland. In E ngland the privy council constructed a system of county militias under the control of a cohort deemed loyal to the P rotestant state, and toyed with schemes for using martial law against vagrants and other groups who threatened public order. But in the absence of a successful invasion or major rebellion, this machinery of military control was never fully mobilized and a reaction eventually set in against its potential abuse. By contrast in I reland linguistic and cultural divisions, weaker institutions of civil government and the preponderance of C atholicism created situations in which brutal military coercion sometimes appeared the only effective method of maintaining ‘civil’ governance and P rotestant control. The weakness of royal supervision over the captains who carried out government policy on the ground also enabled freelance violence. E lizabethan brutality in I reland was not simply a product of colonial rule; it reflected the dark underside of commonwealth ideals of civility, political initiative and godly rule

Civility · Commonwealth · Government (linguistics · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Law · Scottish History and National Identity