Past and Present began publication in 1952. It has established itself as one of the leading historical journals, publishing in lively and readable form a wide variety of scholarly and original articles.
Much important work by English and foreign scholars on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries first appeared in the form of articles in the journal. Originally published in 1965, this collection brings together a broad selection of these articles which have much common ground in the questions they discuss. Together they cover many aspects of crisis and change in most European countries – in society, government, economics, religion and education. The book will be welcomed by all interested in this much debated period.
1. Introduction 2. The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (E. J. Hobsbawm, Birkbeck College, London) 3. The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (H. R. Trevor-Roper, Oriel College, Oxford) 4. Trevor-Roper’s ‘General Crisis’: Symposium (Roland Mousnier, Sorbonne Paris, J. H. Elliott and H. R. Trevor-Roper) 5. Foreign Mercenaries and Absolute Monarchy (V. G. Kiernan, University of Edinburgh) 6. The French Peasantry of the Seventeenth Century: A Regional Example (Pierre Goubert, University of Rennes) 7. The Decline of Spain (J H. Elliott, Trinity College, Cambridge) 8. Queen Christina and the General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century (Michael Roberts, The Queen’s University of Belfast) 9. The Character of Elizabethan Catholicism (John Bossy, University of London, Goldsmiths’ College) 10. The Nobles, the People, and the Constitution (Brian Manning, University Manchester) 11. Strafford in Ireland: A Revaluation (Terence Ranger, The University of College, Dar es Salaam) 12. The Alienated Intellectuals of Early Stuart England (Mark H. Curtis, University of California, Los Angeles) 13. Women and the Civil War Sects (Keith Thomas, St John’s College, Oxford) 14. The Quakers and the English Revolution (Alan Cole, University of Bristol)
Biography
Trevor Aston
Each [essay] is a piece of concentrated research, vigorously written and full of challenge in its conclusions. The book is quite indispensable for all libraries, all history dons and all history teachers. The Times Educational Supplement
The essays include two unusual excursions into the Civil War sects, a fundamental contribution to our understanding of Stafford and a brilliant analysis of Roman Catholic society. Herodotus, the father of history, declared his purpose to be ‘beyond everything else, to give the cause’. The contributors to Crisis in Europe write with filial piety. He would have been proud of them. Spectator
