The fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor England

<p>On 14 September 1534, two men fought on a meadow outside the town of Weymouth, Dorset, watched by a crowd of their neighbours. Learning of the fight, one of the town constables charged between the men, and killed one of them, leading to his prosecution and subsequent appeal to the court of...

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Κύριος συγγραφέας: Healey, J
Μορφή: Journal article
Έκδοση: Oxford University Press 2017
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author Healey, J
author_facet Healey, J
author_sort Healey, J
collection OXFORD
description <p>On 14 September 1534, two men fought on a meadow outside the town of Weymouth, Dorset, watched by a crowd of their neighbours. Learning of the fight, one of the town constables charged between the men, and killed one of them, leading to his prosecution and subsequent appeal to the court of Star Chamber. The investigation by that court left several thousand words of testimony, making it one of the best documented fights in the sixteenth century. This article offers a microhistory of the fight. In particular, it asks what such an event can tell us about the nature of government in the early Tudor period. It suggests that at this time such flashpoints were crucial moments where the state was expected to play a dramatic role. But this in turn depended on participants performing their role as state actors. That could be very dangerous, but detailed reconstructions can also show how state actors, though lacking the visual symbolic apparatus we expect of the modern state, might deploy oral performances to signify their official role.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:80f42651-3e3c-467d-9b65-fd1f707468cd2022-03-26T21:26:55ZThe fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor EnglandJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:80f42651-3e3c-467d-9b65-fd1f707468cdSymplectic Elements at OxfordOxford University Press2017Healey, J<p>On 14 September 1534, two men fought on a meadow outside the town of Weymouth, Dorset, watched by a crowd of their neighbours. Learning of the fight, one of the town constables charged between the men, and killed one of them, leading to his prosecution and subsequent appeal to the court of Star Chamber. The investigation by that court left several thousand words of testimony, making it one of the best documented fights in the sixteenth century. This article offers a microhistory of the fight. In particular, it asks what such an event can tell us about the nature of government in the early Tudor period. It suggests that at this time such flashpoints were crucial moments where the state was expected to play a dramatic role. But this in turn depended on participants performing their role as state actors. That could be very dangerous, but detailed reconstructions can also show how state actors, though lacking the visual symbolic apparatus we expect of the modern state, might deploy oral performances to signify their official role.</p>
spellingShingle Healey, J
The fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor England
title The fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor England
title_full The fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor England
title_fullStr The fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor England
title_full_unstemmed The fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor England
title_short The fray on the meadow: violence, and moment of government in early Tudor England
title_sort fray on the meadow violence and moment of government in early tudor england
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