LEADER 04966oam 22006974a 450 001 9910466256803321 005 20190115231653.0 010 $a1-4214-2201-8 035 $a(CKB)3710000001353850 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4719449 035 $a(OCoLC)987302262 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse56496 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000001353850 100 $a20161213d2017 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcnu|||||||| 181 $2rdacontent 182 $2rdamedia 183 $2rdacarrier 200 14$aThe Draining of the Fens$eProjectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England /$fEric H. Ash 210 1$aBaltimore :$cJohns Hopkins University Press,$d2017. 210 3$aBaltimore, Md. :$cProject MUSE, $d2017 210 4$dİ2017. 215 $a1 online resource (415 pages) 225 0 $aJohns Hopkins studies in the history of technology 311 $a1-4214-2200-X 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $aIntroduction: The Unrecovered Country : Draining the Land, Building the State -- Part I. Popular Politics, Crown Authority, and the Rise of the Projector -- Land and Life in the Pre-Drainage Fens -- State Building in the Fens, 1570-1607 -- The Crisis of Local Governance, 1609-1616 -- The Struggle to Forge Consensus, 1617-1621 -- Part II. Drainage Projects, Violent Resistance, and State Building -- Draining the Hatfield Level, 1625-1636 -- The First Great Level Drainage, 1630-1642 -- Riot, Civil War, and Popular Politics in the Hatfield Level, 1640-1656 -- The Second Great Level drainage, 1649-1656 -- Epilogue: The Once and Future Fens : Unintended Consequences in an Artificial Landscape -- Glossary. 330 2 $a"This book is a political, social, and environmental history of the many attempts to drain the Fens of eastern England during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, both the early failures and the eventual successes. Fen drainage projects were supposed to transform hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands into dry farmland capable of growing grain and other crops, and also reform the sickly, backward fenland inhabitants into civilized, healthy farmers, to the benefit of the entire commonwealth. Fenlanders, however, viewed the drainage as a grave threat to their local landscape, economy, and way of life. At issue were two different understandings of the Fens, what they were and ought to be; the power to define the Fens in the present was the power to determine their future destiny. The drainage projects, and the many conflicts they incited, illustrate the ways in which politics, economics, and ecological thought intersected at a time when attitudes toward both the natural environment and the commonwealth were shifting. Promoted by the crown, endorsed by agricultural improvement advocates, undertaken by English and Dutch projectors, and opposed by fenland commoners, the drainage of the Fens provides a fascinating locus to study the process of state building in early modern England, and the violent popular resistance it sometimes provoked. In exploring the many challenges the English faced in re-conceiving and re-creating their Fens, this book addresses important themes of environmental, political, economic, social, and technological history, and reveals new dimensions of the evolution of early modern England into a modern, unitary, capitalist state"--$cProvided by publisher. 410 0$aJohns Hopkins studies in the history of technology. 606 $aHISTORY / Renaissance$2bisacsh 606 $aTECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History$2bisacsh 606 $aHISTORY / Europe / Great Britain$2bisacsh 606 $aSCIENCE / History$2bisacsh 606 $aGovernment, Resistance to$zEngland$xHistory 606 $aPolitical development$xSocial aspects$zEngland$xHistory 606 $aReclamation of land$zEngland$zFens, The$xHistory 606 $aDrainage$zEngland$zFens, The$xHistory 607 $aGreat Britain$xPolitics and government$y1603-1649 607 $aGreat Britain$xPolitics and government$y1558-1603 607 $aFens, The (England)$xPolitics and government 607 $aFens, The (England)$xEnvironmental conditions 607 $aFens, The (England)$xHistory$y17th century 607 $aFens, The (England)$xHistory$y16th century 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aHISTORY / Renaissance. 615 0$aTECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History. 615 0$aHISTORY / Europe / Great Britain. 615 0$aSCIENCE / History. 615 0$aGovernment, Resistance to$xHistory. 615 0$aPolitical development$xSocial aspects$xHistory. 615 0$aReclamation of land$xHistory. 615 0$aDrainage$xHistory. 676 $a942.6 700 $aAsh$b Eric H.$f1972-$0917435 801 0$bMdBmJHUP 801 1$bMdBmJHUP 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910466256803321 996 $aThe Draining of the Fens$92057055 997 $aUNINA