ABSTRACT
The study of political theory has long been a preoccupation among English historians, and one is therefore entitled to expect solid contributions also from the new generation. They do not disappoint, though people seem to be less ready to undertake the large surveys which were once so fashionable. However, Morris provides a good concise introduction to sixteenth-century thinking.1098 Mostly, individual thinkers have been tackled, and only a few historians have tried their hand at the markedly more fruitful enterprise of investigating a theme as treated by a succession of writers. This is what Ferguson does in a book which shows that humanism fundamentally altered men’s beliefs about the state, about the possibility of selfconscious reform, and about active participation in the business of government.1099 These points are supported by Lehmberg, who finds English thinkers debating the question of counselling monarchs,1100 and by Elton who identifies Thomas Cromwell as the deliberate leader of an active reform group using constitutional means, and Thomas Starkey as the central figure among Cromwell’s men of ideas.1101 Hexter’s excellent analysis of Utopia concentrates on the conflict between scholarship and public service.1102 The old notion that More should be seen as a premature socialist was still alive enough to mislead Ames entirely.1103 The other great thinker of the century, Richard Hooker, also receives his due tribute. Davies concisely sums up his ideas;1104 Shirley places him within his own time.1105 Munz tries to make him no more than the heir of ancient and medieval traditions.1106 It looks as though Hooker’s famed judiciousness deprives those who study him not only of passion but of life.
1098 Christopher Morris, Political Thought in England: Tyndale to Hooker. L: OUP: 1953. Pp. x, 320. Rev: EHR 70, 324f.
