Cities divided: politics and religion in English provincial towns, 1660 - 1722

The religious and political history of late seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century England is typically written in terms of conflict and division. Corrupt, drunken, and sometimes very violent elections indicated how party conflict - exacerbated by religious division - had become a normal part of English life. But strife was not universal - in many towns, despite occasional disorder, government rarely broke down. Focusing on these provincial towns Professor Millerreveals that, although town government was not at all democratic, there was participation, consultation, and negotiation. Members lived in close proximity to, and did business with, their fellow townspeople. Any violence ended with bruises rather than fatalities.