PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page i POLITICIANS AND PAMPHLETEERS PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page ii To Mum and Dad PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page iii Politicians and Pamphleteers Propaganda During the English Civil Wars and Interregnum JASON PEACEY PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page iv First published 2004 by Ashgate Publishing Published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Copyright © Jason Peacey, 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Jason Peacey has asserted his moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. British Library Cataloguing-in-PublicationData Peacey, Jason Politicians and pamphleteers : propaganda during the English Civil Wars and interregnum 1. Propaganda – England – History – 17th century 2. Pamphlets – England – History – 17th century 3. Politics in literature – History – 17th century 4. Great Britain – History – Civil War, 1642–1649 – Pamphlets 5. Great Britain – History – Civil War, 1642–1649 6. Great Britain – History – Commonwealth and Protectorate, 1649–1660 7. Great Britain – History – Civil War, 1642–1649 – Propaganda 8.Great Britain – Politics and government – 1642–1660 I. Title 320'.014'0942'09032 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peacey, Jason. Politicians and pamphleteers: propaganda during the English civil wars and interregnum / Jason Peacey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Great Britain – Politics and government – 1642–1660. 2. Politics and literature – Great Britain – History – 17th century. 3. Pamphlets – Publishing – Great Britain – History – 17th century. 4. Popular literature – Great Britain – History and criticism. 5. Pamphleteers – Great Britain – History – 17th century. 6. Pamphlets – Great Britain – History – 17th century. 7. Propaganda, British – History – 17th century. I. Title. DA406.P43 2003 942.06'28–dc 21 2003045335 iSBN 9780754606840 (hbk) PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page v Contents Acknowledgements vii Abbreviations ix Introduction 1 Part One The Motorof Propaganda 1 Politicians and the Propaganda Impulse 31 2 Authors and the Propaganda Impulse 64 Part Two The Mechanics of Propaganda 3 Decoding Pamphlets 95 4 Licensing and Propaganda 132 5 Politicians and the Press 163 6 Politicians and the Writing Process 203 Part Three The Dynamics of Propaganda 7 The Limits of Propaganda 237 8 The Propagandist and the Politician 272 Epilogue Propaganda, the State, and the Public Sphere 303 Bibliography 333 Index 401 PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page vi This page intentionally left blank PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page vii Acknowledgements This book has taken far too long to complete. I have come to liken the experience of writing it to that of taking a sauna: long, largely uncomfortable, but ultimately rewarding, if only for myself. In the course of its composition, I have accumulated substantial debts to a variety of institutions and organisations, and to a number of individuals. Expressions of thanks to academic libraries are perhaps more commonly uttered than heartfelt. But, as someone who has probably been a reader somewhat demanding of librarians’time, I have genuine grounds for thanking the staff of the rare books room and manuscripts room in the Cambridge University Library, as well as the staff of Duke Humphrey’s Library in the Bodleian, and the British Library, as well as to the staff of the Institute of Historical Research, whose library, like so many national treasures, is criminally neglected. I would also like to express my thanks to the staff of the Beinecke Library at Yale, where I was able to spend an enjoyable and profitable month with the assistance of an Osborn fellowship. I must also thank those innumerable world libraries whose staff have helped with my many requests for information, and the British Academy, without whose financial support, in the shape of a postgraduate scholarship, this project could never have been started, let alone completed. Academically, I have benefited greatly from the comments offered by those who have attended the seminar papers where some of my ideas were given trial outings, often in rather crude manifestations, at Oxford, Cambridge and London, and at conferences in London, New York, Pasadena and Baltimore. The encouragement offered by scholars such as Tom Cogswell, Peter Lake, Ian Gentles, Paul Hammer, Michael Graves, Peter Lindenbaum, Barry Coward, Derek Hirst and Tim Harris has regularly served to boost my enthusiasm at times when it was flagging. I must make special mention of the members of the Seventeenth Century British History seminar at the IHR, and particularly its convenors, Ian Roy, John Miller and Justin Champion. I have also received encouragement from the supervisor of the dissertation from which this work takes its origins, Richard Tuck, as well as from its examiners Austin Woolrych and John Morrill, the latter of whom has offered more assistance, at various stages of my career, than I can ever repay. I have also benefited immensely from the experience of working for the History of Parliament. Having up to fifteen early modernists in one building on a regular basis can only be described as a privilege. However, there are some upon whom I have leaned disproportionately, and who have every reason to be thoroughly bored by this book by now. The frequency with which I have exploited PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page viii viii POLITICIANS AND PAMPHLETEERS the expertise of, and received references from, Patrick Little, Andrew Barclay and Simon Healy, as well as my editors, John Adamson and Stephen Roberts, is reflected throughout this work, too much so to be spelt out. Special mention has to be made, however, to those many stimulating, heated and not always entirely sober discussions regarding the seventeenth century, on big issues as well as minor details, held with Ariel Hessayon, Elliot Vernon and Phil Baker, and particularly with Sean Kelsey, David Scott and Chris Kyle. Evenings spent with these three in London’s pubs have proved far more fruitful than all my time in the famed Cambridge University Library tea room, which I cherish for reasons unconnected with history. Beyond academia, I must thank those who have kept me sane over the last decade, not least by reminding me of more important things than this book. These include Martin, Paul, Andrew, Dave, Duncan, Trevor, Emma and Annette, as well as my brother, Nathan. Most especially, of course, I want to thank my parents, for unstinting moral, as well as financial, support, and it is to them that this book is dedicated. PRELIMS POLITICIANS & PAMP 23/1/04 9:14 am Page ix Abbreviations A&O C. H. Firth & R. S. Rait, eds, Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642–1660(3 vols, London, 1911) Abbott, Cromwell W. C. Abbott, The Writings and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell(4 vols, Oxford, 1988) Add. Additional Manuscript AHR American Historical Review BIHR Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research BJRL Bulletin of John Rylands Library BL British Library, London Bodl. Bodleian Library, Oxford CCSP O. Ogle, W. H. Bliss, W. D. Macray, and F. J. Routledge, eds, Calendar of the Clarendon State Papers(5 vols, Oxford, 1872–1970) CJ Journals of the House of Commons CJH Canadian Journal of History Clarendon State Papers R. Scrope and T. Monkhouse, eds, State Papers Collected by Edward, Earl of Clarendon(3 vols, Oxford, 1767–86) Clarendon, History E. Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England(ed. W. D. Macray, 6 vols, Oxford, 1888) Clarendon, Life The Life of Edward, Earl of Clarendon (3 vols, Oxford, 1827) CLRO Corporation of London Record Office CP C. H. Firth, ed., The Clarke Papers(4 vols, Camden Society, 1891–1901) CSPD Calendar of State Papers Domestic CSPI Calendar of State Papers Ireland CSPV Calendar of State Papers Venetian CUL Cambridge University Library