University of Exeter Press

Faction And Faith

Politics and Religion of the Cornish Gentry before the Civil War

    • 294 Pages


    The history of Cornwall in the first half of the seventeenth century is both dramatic and turbulent. In Faction and Faith, Anne Duffin draws upon extensive new source material, combining national documents and local family collections with a detailed analysis of churchwardens' accounts, borough records and over 350 wills. She challenges the established view that Cornwall was naturally royalist and presents a picture of a politically-aware and religiously-splintered society.



    Makes use of extensive new source material from national and local records First major publication since 1933 on Cornwall in this period Challenges the established view of Cornish society in the early seventeenth century Market: Scholars of early seventeenth century history. Academic and local libraries. Postgraduate and undergraduate students of history. All those with an interest in Cornish and Civil War history.





    In this book, Anne Duffin draws upon new source material, combining national documents and local family collections with an analysis of churchwardens' accounts, borough records and over 350 wills. She challenges the view that Cornwall was naturally royalist and presents a picture of a politically-aware and religiously-splintered society.




    ‘ . . . Anne Duffin’s scholarly study of early seventeenth-century Cornwall worthily takes its place alongside Mary Coate’s classic 1933 volume on this county’s Civil War experience. Based on copious research, clearly presented, balanced in its judgements, it fills a significant gap in early modern regional history.’ (Southern History, Vol. 18, 1997)



    ‘...this is an impressive study, emphasizing the dialogic relationship between centre and locality in her period.’ (English Historical Review, February 1998)



    ‘This is a book which will be valued by historians of this period and by those with a particular interest in Cornwall.’ (Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries, Autumn 1997)



    Introduction

    Cornwall and the Cornish gentry

    The religious landscape - Papists, Puritans and Arminians

    The political landscape - harmony and faction 1600-1638

    Local government and defence 1600-1638

    The impact of arbitrary taxation

    The approach of war



    Anne Duffin is a part-time lecturer in the Department of History and Archaeology, University of Exeter,and a freelance historian and writer