How did the notion of
commonwealth change over the
seventeenth century?
Guntash Gill
The Linguistic Turn
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The ‘Cambridge School’- contingent on context
The ‘German tradition’-concepts
Impact on social History- Raymond Williams, Keywords
Commonwealth: Keyword, requires careful contextualization across time and
part of a conceptual field
Background
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Term first used in the 15th century
Reference to the polity- emphasized by Thomas Smith
Concept of ‘the common good’
Elyot 1531-hierarchical & monarchical
Starkey-monarchy not central to a commonwealth
Commonwealth as a metaphor
1649- A turning point?
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1641 ‘Grand Remonstrance’
1649 ‘Oath of Engagement’
1648 Rump parliament
1653 Barebones parliament
Instrument of government 1653
Humble petition and Advice 1657
1660-Restoration
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Commonwealth-negative term
Thomas May- Arbitrary Government 1683
Rise of political parties
Alternative vocabulary
Reclaiming the term
• Republishing Harrington's Oceana
• Sidney's ‘Discourse concerning government’