{"product_id":"absolute-monarchy-and-the-stuart-constitution-9780300217285","title":"Absolute Monarchy and the Stuart Constitution","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this ambitious reinterpretation of the early Stuart period in England  Glenn Burgess contends that the common understanding of seventeenth-century English politics is oversimplified and inaccurate. The long-accepted standard view holds that gradual polarization between the Court and Parliament during the reigns of James I and Charles I reflected the split between absolutists--who upheld the divine right of monarchy to rule--and constitutionalists--who resisted tyranny by insisting the monarch was subject to law--and resulted inevitably in civil war. Yet  Burgess argues  the very terms that have been used to understand the period are misleading: there were almost no genuine absolutist thinkers in England before the Civil War  and the \"constitutionalism\" of common lawyers and parliamentarians was a very different notion from current understandings of that term.  Burgess turns to the great body of common law that enshrined many of Englands liberties and institutions. Examining the political opinions of such key figures as Sir Edward Coke and Sir Francis Bacon  he concludes that the laws of the land represented a civilization no monarchist would have attacked. Further  absolutism was a rare creed at the time and  while it was accepted that the king was next to God in authority  this detracted nothing from the insistence that he rule under the law. Rather than a polarization of ideas fueling political division  says Burgess  it was Charles Is inappropriate exploitation of agreed prerogatives that exposed tensions  forged divisions  and ruptured the \"pacified politics\" of which the early modern English were so proud. Burgesss new perspective sets the political thought of Hobbes  Locke  and others into contemporary context  revises the distorted view of pre-civil war England  and refocuses discussion on the real conflicts and human complexities of the period.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45665863958581,"sku":"ByrdShop_0300217285","price":58.7,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780300217285.jpg?v=1782411054","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/absolute-monarchy-and-the-stuart-constitution-9780300217285","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}