The writing of county history in England experienced its first boom from the 1570s to the 1650s, during which time a series of outstanding county histories were written, including William Lambarde’s Perambulation of Kent, William Burton’s Description of Leicestershire and William Dugdale’s Antiquities of Warwickshire. All these works are manifestations of the phenomenon of ‘county history writing by the gentry’. County histories are primarily about local place names and famous persons, but also give accounts related to rivers, mountains, land, architecture, real estate, family clans, regional customs and histories. This essay illustrates the sociocultural phenomenon of ‘county history writing by the gentry’ in the view of the formation of the nation state, and aims to demonstrate the significance and value of the writing of county histories by gentlemen, from the perspective of the ‘community of county gentry’.
Nanjing University, China
Chapter Title
The Writing of County Histories in Early Modern England
Authors
Chen Rihua
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0242-8.05
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
East and West Entangled (17th-21st Centuries)
Editors
Rolando Minuti, Giovanni Tarantino
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
228
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0242-8
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0241-1
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0242-8
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0243-5
Series Title
Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History
Series ISSN
2975-0393
Series E-ISSN
2975-0261