Royal Ceremony, Celebration, and Print in Later Stuart England, 1660-1714

By Benjamin F Klein

Recent years have witnessed a resurgence of scholarly interest in the study of the royal court in early modern Britain. Whilst the majority of this work has focused upon the Tudor and early Stuart periods, significant investigations into the Court between 1649 and 1714 have greatly enhanced our understanding of the culture, politics, and other dimensions of the Republican, Cromwellian, and later Stuart Courts. Divine Right and Public Legitimacy builds and expands upon this literature, providing the first systematic evaluation of the ceremonies and symbols of English kingship from the Restoration in 1660 to the Hanoverian Succession in 1714. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this study examines a broad range of ceremonies and celebrations, including coronations, royal entries into London and other cities, progresses, executions, touching for scrofula, religious events and military displays. Extensive use is also made of newspapers, broadsides, and other forms of printed material to evaluate the relationship between the actual performance of the ceremonies and the representation of these events in the press. Furthermore, the study analyses the behaviour of the audience attending these events, to further explore the reception and effectiveness of the Crown's efforts. By providing a chronological overview of royal ceremony in England between 1660 and 1714, this book not provides an examination of the ways in which individual monarchs sought to display their authority, but also shows how the institution of monarch was constantly forced to adapt the ways in which it projected its legitimacy to a changing world.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0754662500
• ISBN13: 9780754662501
• Release Date: March 2022
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 220 Pages