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" A reappraisal of early modern Chester through a reading of the city's antiquarian collections "
Wood, Elizabeth Mouncey
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1095654
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TLets405879
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| Main Entry
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Wood, Elizabeth Mouncey
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| Title & Author
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A reappraisal of early modern Chester through a reading of the city's antiquarian collections\ Wood, Elizabeth Mouncey
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| College
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Birkbeck (University of London)
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| Date
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2003
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2003
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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This dissertation studies the antiquarian culture of early modern Chester, based onmanuscript sources now in the British Library's Harley collection, the CheshireRecord Office and elsewhere. These include the Breviary of Robert Rogers, variousmayoral rolls, and especially the collections of the antiquarian Holme family. Thedissertation argues that these documents form an integral part of the City of Chester'sclaim to independence, based on its status as England's oldest palatinate. The City'scharters, granted by Henry III, created the earldom of Chester, but effectively gave thecity's mayor and Assembly jurisdiction over the City's internal affairs. In the Tudorperiod, there were repeated attempts by centralised government to restrict Chester'srights, and these were fiercely and usually successfully resisted. The manuscriptscollected and compiled by the City's antiquarians formed a central part of this senseof Chester's autonomy through their consistent stressing of the City's rights andprivileges.The dissertation works through a series of case studies. Chester's famous medievalmystery plays, whose texts were copied and preserved by the antiquarians, are re-readas a late sixteenth-century means of putting the City on display. The 1610inauguration of Prince Henry as Earl of Chester is interpreted as being used, even inhis absence, to promote the City through the staging of a triumph in his honour.Various legal and political conflicts are examined, all through detailed readings of arange of manuscript sources. Finally, received notions of the top-down early modernpatronage are challenged through an examination of letters and petitions. Throughoutthis study, there emerges the potential for a City-centred retelling of Chester's historydifferent from the 'national' model written by those in power in London andWestminster.
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Birkbeck (University of London)
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