| Summary: | <p>This thesis studies Anglophone discourses of conquest in seventeenth-century British
political debates. It focuses on the development and deployment of conquest arguments
across a series of moments during the first half of the seventeenth century. No such study
has thus far been undertaken. The present thesis, therefore, aims to offer the first
substantial treatment of early modern Anglophone discourses of conquest. It is structured
around four case studies, spread out over four main chapters, each examining an extended
moment of importance in the development of conquest arguments. These four chapters
are flanked by the Introduction and the Conclusion & Epilogue. The Introduction delimits
the topic under investigation, surveys the relevant modern literature and explains the
methodological approach. Chapter 1 looks at ideas of conquest in the context of James
I’s accession. It shows how debates over conquest emerged from the reception of James’s
political thought against the backdrop of his accession and the Anglo-Scottish union
debates. Chapter 2 considers conquest discourse during the last stages of the union
debates and as part of an ancient constitution narrative that developed in their wake.
Chapter 3 investigates uses of conquest arguments in the civil war of the 1640s. It focuses
on the pamphlet debates of 1642/3 and conquest rhetoric as part of Leveller conceptions
of the Norman Yoke. Chapter 4 concentrates on conquest arguments in the Engagement
controversy of 1649-51 and looks at how conquest theories developed during the
Engagement’s pamphlet debate. Finally, the Conclusion & Epilogue summarises the main
findings and demonstrates that the conquest theories that had been developed over the
course of the century came to be used in the years following the Revolution of 1688/89.</p>
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