ABSTRACT
In 1643, a cross erected at Cheapside in London was pulled down. On the one hand, the situation might be explained with the claim that the Parliament supporters needed an outlet for their anti—religious feelings, and the cross happened to be on their way. On the other hand, to understand this situation better, one needs to go back to the events of 1640. In England, that year marks the beginning of the unrest following the First Bishops’ War and the conflict between Charles I and his Parliament, which resulted in—among other things-the emergence of an extensive and uncensored print market. Hundreds of pamphlets, brochures, leaflets, and broadsheets were published, mainly against the Church of England’s hierarchy, Catholics, Papists, Jesuits, and other enemies of the Parliament. Interestingly, among the enemies of the Parliament, we find the Cheapside Cross. This contribution investigates a set of original prints from the first half of the 1640s that describe the citizens of London’s emotions connected with the cross. Its purpose is to show that the skilful management of the emotions of the crowds by the propaganda authors of the time was the actual reason for pulling the monument down.
