Introduction

In mid-seventeenth-century England, Parliament opposed, wen t to war against, tried, an d execute d th e king . I n thes e extraordinar y circumstances , ami d a heightening o f popula r politica l activity , apprentice s an d wome n repeatedl y petitioned Parliament . I n hi s recen t stud y o f popula r politic s i n Civi l Wa r London, Keit h Lindle y observes : "Apprentice s an d othe r youn g Londoner s forgot thei r place an d presumed t o intervene i n the affair s o f church and stat e ... eve n wome n temporaril y abandone d thei r housewifer y to mak e thei r ow n political contribution " (410) . Whil e historian s hav e ofte n acknowledge d tha t "subordinate subjects " - non-aristocrati c me n and women - hav e not left the kind o r amoun t o f textua l trace s lef t b y thei r superiors , th e breakdow n o f censorship i n 1640-4 1 allowe d thes e petition s t o b e publishe d i n thei r ow n right and as part o f newsbooks.1 Thus the political activity o f apprentices and women wa s discursivel y constructe d an d produce d discursiv e effects . Thes e texts can therefore give access to what Antonio Gramsci has called "the history of th e subaltern" - necessaril y fragmente d an d episodic - a s well a s to the history of political thought "from below" (see Krantz; Hobsbawm).2