Rulers And Ruled 1580-1650
Modern historians are justly wary of attributing the attitudes of the present to the human beings of the past. Yet, if fundamental human characteristics had not remained constant over time, the past would hardly exercise the power over the contemporary imagination which it clearly possesses. This being so, it seems appropriate to ask why the ordinary people of early modern England put up with a national political system over which most (lacking the parliamentary franchise) had no direct control, and a social system which apparently worked against their interests.
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