Imprisonment in Early Modern England by Richard Thomas Bell
Why and how did English society embrace the prison as an answer to social problems? This study uncovers an important part of this story, revealing the growing centrality of prisons in early modern England to everyday social relations based on credit and debt. Between 1560 and 1700, prisons became essential to disciplining economic and moral life, provoking growing anxiety over incarceration and loss of liberty. In turn, new ideas crystallised about prisons as tools of coercion, deterrence, punishment and rehabilitation, while novel abolitionist politics developed among prison activists. This came to a head during the English Revolution, when prisoners' longstanding antagonism towards state and legal institutions entered radical milieus and law reform movements, impacting debates over authority, tyranny and liberty. This study reveals how straining credit networks, swelling prison populations and socioeconomic upheaval reshaped early modern society and politics. In doing so, Richard Thomas Bell sheds new light on the development of carceral ideas that remain fundamental, yet increasingly controversial, in contemporary society.-
Popular Politics and the English Reformation
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Crime, Gender and Social Order in Early Modern England
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Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England
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Queenship and Political Discourse in the Elizabethan Realms
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Female Friends and the Making of Transatlantic Quakerism, 16501750
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Cheap Print and Popular Piety, 15501640
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The Blind Devotion of the People
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John Skelton and the Politics of the 1520s
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Pamphlets and Pamphleteering in Early Modern Britain
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The Chief Governors
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The Early Elizabethan Polity
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London Crowds in the Reign of Charles II
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Intelligence and Espionage in the Reign of Charles II, 16601685
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The 1549 Rebellions and the Making of Early Modern England
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Georgian Monarchy
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The Family of Love in English Society, 15501630
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Reason and Religion in the English Revolution
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Godly Kingship in Restoration England
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England's Second Reformation
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Print and Public Politics in the English Revolution
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The Common Peace
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William III and the Godly Revolution
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Europe and the Making of England, 16601760
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Prayer Book and People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England
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Protestant Bodies
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Frenzy in Early Modern England
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Religion, Rebellion and Violence in Ireland, c. 1603-1649
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Godly Reading
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Reformation Unbound
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John Locke, Toleration and Early Enlightenment Culture
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Unquiet Lives
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The Politics and Culture of Honour in Britain and Ireland, 15411641
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The Reconstruction of the Church of Ireland
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Religion and the Book in Early Modern England
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Martial Power and Elizabethan Political Culture
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Print Culture and the Early Quakers
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The Politics of Court Scandal in Early Modern England
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Hunting and the Politics of Violence before the English Civil War
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The Polarisation of Elizabethan Politics
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Mercy and Authority in the Tudor State
Richard Thomas Bell is a social and political historian based at the University of Oxford. His research explores the interaction of social and economic change with political conflict in early modern Britain. His publications include articles in Social History, Journal of British Studies and Huntington Library Quarterly.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781009759397 |
| Title | Imprisonment in Early Modern England |
| Author | Richard Thomas Bell |
| Series | Cambridge Studies In Early Modern British History |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2026-10-31 |
| Number of pages | 340 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |