Biography
I was educated at the university of Liverpool where I completed a PhD on ‘Politics, society and civil war in Warwickshire’. I have worked at the Open University and then as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Modern History at Manchester University. I have been at Keele since September 1995.
Research and scholarship
I am a historian of early modern England with particular interests in the culture, religion and politics of the English civil war – or English Revolution as I would prefer to call it. In recent years my interests have included religious debate and polemic, print culture, gender and radicalism. In 2011, I completed a book, Gender and Politics in the English Revolution. I am now principally working on preaching during the revolution.
I am committed to interdisciplinary approaches and have gained much from working with the literary scholars Julie Sanders (Nottingham) on gender and royalism, and with Tom Corns (Bangor) and David Loewenstein (Madison) on the radical writer Gerrard Winstanley. Our edition of Winstanley’s Complete Works (the first ever) was published by Oxford University Press in December 2009.
Teaching
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HIS 10024: Early Medieval Britain
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HIS 10030: Historical Research and Writing
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HIS 10027: Early Modern Europe
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HIS 10026: History, Media, Memory
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HIS 20028: State and Empire
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HIS 20048: Protest, Rebellion and Revolution 1530-1640.
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HIS 30062-3: Women in Early Modern England: Representations and Life-writings.
I also teach on ‘Approaches to Historical Research’ and ‘Reflective Practice’ for our masters’ programmes.
Selected Publications
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Gender and the English Revolution. London: Routledge.2011.
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The Complete Works of Gerrard Winstanley. Oxford Univ Pr.2009.
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'Men, the 'public' and the 'private' in the English Revolution'. In The Public Sphere in Early Modern England. . Lake P and Pincus S (Eds.). Manchester University Press.2007.
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'"The Public Profession of these nations": the national church in Interregnum England'. In Religion in Revolutionary England. Durston C and Maltby J (Eds.). Manchester University Press.2006.
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'A "lunatick revolter from loyalty": the Death of Rowland Wilson and the English Revolution'. History Workshop Journal, 192-204, vol. 61. doi>2006.
Full Publications Listshow
Books
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Gender and the English Revolution. London: Routledge.2011.
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The Complete Works of Gerrard Winstanley. Oxford Univ Pr.2009.
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Gangraena and the struggle for the English Revolution. Oxford University Press.2004.
Journal Articles
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The 'Chalk' and the 'Chees': David Underdown, regional cultures and popular allegiance in the English Revolution. History Compass, 373-380, vol. 11(5). doi>2013.
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Political Eclipse, Administrative Change and Social Tension: the Gells of Hopton, and Lichfield Dean and Chapter property during the Interregnum and Restoration. Midland History, 24-41, vol. 36(1). doi>2011.
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The Hague Courts of Elizabeth of Bohemia and Mary Stuart: Theatrical and Ceremonial Cultures. Early Modern Literary Studies.2007.
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'A "lunatick revolter from loyalty": the Death of Rowland Wilson and the English Revolution'. History Workshop Journal, 192-204, vol. 61. doi>2006.
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Lord Brooke and Oliver Cromwell. Cromwelliana.2006.
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An English Revolutionary: the work of Christopher Hill. Socialist History, 26-32, vol. 24.2005.
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Not Gideon of Old: Anna Trapnel and Oliver Cromwell. Cromweliana, 77-96, vol. Series 2.2005.
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Basil Feilding, second Earl of Denbigh. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Elizabeth Lilburne (neé"' Dewell). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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John Trapp. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Katherine Stuart (nee Howard). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Lady Aubigny, Alice Thornton (nee Wandesford). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Obadiah Grew. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Robert Greville, second Baron Brooke. Oxford Dictionary of National biography.2004.
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Samuel Clarke. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Simeon Ashe. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Thomas Dugard. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
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Thomas Edwards' Essex: evaluating Gangraena. Essex Archaeology and History, 181-187.2004.
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William Purefoy. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.2004.
Chapters
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'The remembrance of sweet fellowship': relationships between English and Scottish Presbyterians in the 1640s and 1650s. In Insular Christianity. Alternative models of the Church in Britain and Ireland, c. 1570 - c.1700. Armstrong R and O Hannrachain T (Eds.). (13 vols.). Manchester: Manchester University Press.2013.
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Diggers, True Levellers and the Crisis of the English Revolution. In The Agreements of the People, the Levellers and the Constitutional Crisis of the English Revolution. Baker P and Vernon E (Eds.). (10 vols.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.2012.
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‘Society and the roles of women’. In The Oxford Handbook of Literature and the English Revolution. (37 vols.).2012.
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Gender, exile and the Hague courts of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and Mary, Princess of Orange in the 1650s’. In Monarchy and Exile: The politics of legitimacy from Marie de Medicis to Wilhelm II. Mansel P and Riotte T (Eds.). Houndmills, Basngstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.2011.
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Gender, Geography and Exile: Royalists and the Low Countries in the 1650s. In Royalists and Royalism During the Interregnum. McElligott and Smith (Eds.). Manchester Univ Pr.2010.
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Disruptions and evocations of family amongst royalist exiles. In Literatures of exile in the English Revolution and its aftermath, 1640 - 1690. Major P (Ed.). Farnham: Ashgate.2010.
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Milton, Areopagitica and the Parliamentary Cause. In The Oxford Handbook of Milton. McDowell N and Smith N (Eds.). Oxford Univ Pr.2009.
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William Dugdale and the Civil War. In William Dugdale, historian, 1605-1686. Dyer C and Richardson C (Eds.). Boydell Press.2009.
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'Men, the 'public' and the 'private' in the English Revolution'. In The Public Sphere in Early Modern England. . Lake P and Pincus S (Eds.). Manchester University Press.2007.
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Puritanism and Gender. In The Cambridge Companion to Puritanism. Coffey J and Lim P (Eds.). Cambridge University Press.2007.
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Religious Diversity in Revolutionary London. In The English Revolution c.1590-1720. Tyacke N (Ed.). Manchester Univ Press.2007.
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Thomas Edwards' Gangraena as Heresiography. In Heresy in Early Modern English Culture. Lowenstein D and Marshall J (Eds.). Cambridge University Press.2007.
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'"The Public Profession of these nations": the national church in Interregnum England'. In Religion in Revolutionary England. Durston C and Maltby J (Eds.). Manchester University Press.2006.
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"Print, persecution and polemic: Thomas Edwards' Gangraena and Civil War sectarianism". In The uses of Script and Print, 1300-1700. Crick J and Walsham A (Eds.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.2003.
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"Religion, 1640-1660". In A Companion to Stuart Britain. Coward B (Ed.). Blackwell/Historical Association, Oxford.2003.
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Approaches to Presbyterian print culture: Thomas Edward's "Gangraena" as source and text. In Books and Readers in Early Modern England. Anderson J and Sauer E (Eds.). Univeristy of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA, USA.2001.
Other
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Milton and Tolertation: A Historian's Afterword.2007.
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The Execution of Charles I.2001.
School of Humanities
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Head of School
Dr Nick Seager
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Email: n.p.seager@keele.ac.uk
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