Book contents
- Front matter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Addressing, petitioning and the public
- 1 Petitions, oaths and addresses: Subscriptional activity during the civil wars
- 2 Cromwell’s trunks: The origins of the loyal address, 1658– 61
- 3 Addresses, abhorrences and associations: Subscriptional culture and memory in the 1680s
- 4 Adversarial addressing, 1701– 10
- 5 Who were the ‘public’?: Identifying the addressers
- 6 The performance of loyalty: Ritual in loyal addressing
- 7 From subjects to objects: The language of loyalty
- Conclusion
- Bibliography of archival and manuscript material consulted
- Index
3 - Addresses, abhorrences and associations: Subscriptional culture and memory in the 1680s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2026
Book contents
- Front matter
- Contents
- List of figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction: Addressing, petitioning and the public
- 1 Petitions, oaths and addresses: Subscriptional activity during the civil wars
- 2 Cromwell’s trunks: The origins of the loyal address, 1658– 61
- 3 Addresses, abhorrences and associations: Subscriptional culture and memory in the 1680s
- 4 Adversarial addressing, 1701– 10
- 5 Who were the ‘public’?: Identifying the addressers
- 6 The performance of loyalty: Ritual in loyal addressing
- 7 From subjects to objects: The language of loyalty
- Conclusion
- Bibliography of archival and manuscript material consulted
- Index
Summary
This chapter examines the most intense period of addressing activity, the 1680s. During this period, thousands of loyal addresses were sent to both Charles II and James II. The discussion of addressing activity was informed by the memory of its Cromwellian origins. This was used by some critics to delegitimise addressing as a political form. In contrast, Court loyalists attacked other subscriptional forms (especially oaths and petitions) as vehicles for conspiracy. However, these arguments concealed a broader consensus on both the legitimacy of addressing and the need for some legal limits on popular political activity.
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- Publisher: Manchester University PressFirst published in: 2026
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