'A Foolish Commotion of Youth'? Crowds and the 'Crisis of the 1590s' in London. (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Walter, John
• Is Part Of: London journal. Volume 44:Number 1(2019)
• Page Start: 17
• Page End: 36
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Early Modern London -- Crowds -- Grain Riots -- Popular Protest, Harvest Failure -- Apprentices -- Crisis; London (England) -- History -- Periodicals; London (England) -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 942.1005
• DOI: 10.1080/03058034.2018.1558796
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-8034

Abstract

Abstract : This article re-examines the record of collective protest in London in the 'crisis of the 1590s'. It offers a 'thick description' of the crowds' actions and in particular the mix of legitimation and licence the main actors, the London apprentices, managed. It raises more general questions about the uses made by historians of the evidence of 'riot' to sustain analyses employing the concept of 'crisis', problematising the evidence from which these uses derive, and questioning the appropriateness of the language historians have used to describe such protests.