Freedom of Speech in Early Stuart England

This book discusses a central chapter in the history of free speech in the western world. The nature and limits of freedom of speech prompted sophisticated debate in a wide range of areas in the early seventeenth century; it was one of the ‘liberties of the subject’ fought for by individuals and groups across the political landscape. David Colclough argues that freedom of speech was considered to be a significant civic virtue during this period. Discussions of free speech raised serious questions about what it meant to live in a free state, and how far England was from being such a state. Examining a wide range of sources, from rhetorical handbooks to Parliamentary speeches and manuscript miscellanies, Dr Colclough demonstrates how freedom of speech was conceived positively in the period c. 1603–1628, rather than being defined in opposition to acts of censorship.

• Covers a critically neglected subject • Recovers a tradition of argument about freedom of speech that has been obscured, treating both local context and the longer tradition, and reaching back to classical sources • Reads a wide range of literary and non-literary texts, from Parliamentary speeches to manuscript miscellanies

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Parrhesia, or licentiousness baptised freedom: the rhetoric of free speech; 2. Freedom of speech and religion; 3. Freedom of speech in early Stuart Parliaments; 4. ‘A very paschall fit for Rome’: freedom of speech and manuscript miscellanies; Epilogue; Bibliography.