Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2015, History

This paper discusses the importance of pamphleteers during the period of the Late Stuart Dynasty in England. While individual pamphleteers are rarely discussed in broad historical texts about the seventeenth century, their writing dramatically influenced the political policy of the Crown and of Parliament. The paper discusses three major topics in the history of pamphleteering during the late seventeenth century and through these topics the contributions of individuals are discussed. First, the pamphleteers and their political relation to Charles II's mistresses, especially the comparison between the English and Protestant mistress Nell Gwyn to the French and Catholic Louise de Kerouaille. Second, how pamphleteers such as Robert Ferguson and Samuel Johnson worked with printers like Richard Baldwin to help influence the objectives of the Glorious Revolution. Lastly, the paper concludes with the discussion of how women such as Aphra Behn and Jane Curtis entered into the position of pamphleteer. The paper spans the period of the English monarchy's restoration to the Glorious Revolution and advances the scholarship of historians of England, Europe, and Early Modern Print Culture.

Committee: Michael Graham (Advisor); Michael Levin (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: European History; History

Master of Arts, University of Akron, 2014, History

The late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries saw England experience a dramatic shift; this transformation took place in both the public sphere and print culture. It also occurred in the government's involvement in and management of these two theaters of the social landscape. To grasp this change and gauge how it happened over time this thesis analyzes four instructive events, or in some cases series of events, and the changing political and cultural contexts surrounding them to demonstrate the government's evolving involvement in and management of the public sphere through print media during this period. The specific episodes of interest are the Popish Plot and subsequent Exclusion Crisis, the Glorious Revolution of 1688-1689, the Sacheverell “incident” and its aftermath, and the peace campaign that brought about the end of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Each is examined both quantitatively and qualitatively using a combination of primary sources in the form of newspapers, pamphlets, and other pieces of print media and secondary analysis. This investigation demonstrates that the importance of the public sphere and of print expanded during this timeframe and that to achieve its goals and maintain political stability the government had to expand its participation in and management of these emergent spaces of power brokering – a task it successfully did by 1713.

Committee: Michael Graham Dr. (Advisor); Michael Levin Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2004, History

This dissertation explores the origins and creation of the allied army that fought in the Spanish Netherlands during the Nine Years' War. In 1689, the Dutch Republic, England, Habsburg Austria, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia, and later Savoy, along with a number of lesser German states united to combat the ambitions of French king Louis XIV. These states formed coalition armies to fight in the various theaters of war surrounding the kingdom. Arguably the most important of these was the army in the Spanish Netherlands, often referred to by contemporaries as the "Confederate Army." Due to the Spanish Netherlands' strategic importance to both the Dutch Republic and France, the so-called "Cockpit of Europe" attracted immense armies on both sides. France assembled the largest army until the Napoleonic Wars during the Nine Years' War; and the largest of its field armies was deployed in the Low Countries Theater. For the allies, the burden of the war effort in the Spanish Netherlands fell to England and the Dutch Republic, the wealthiest and militarily strongest of the coalition's members. The combination of geography, politics, and strategy merged resulting in the greatest of the allies' armies, the army the army of Stadhouder-Koning William III. This dissertation explores how diplomatic, political, and military factors intersected to create the first modern coalition army. Commanded by William III, the Confederate Army was the largest, best equipped and arguably best led and organized of the coalition forces arrayed against France. The composition of this army was the result of a combination of factors. The geographic location of the coalition partners, and the theater of war; the economic power of the army's principal contributors; and the unity of command William III brought to the Confederate Army; all of these factors contributed to that organization's character. Together, they forged a unique army in the history of European warfare in the early modern period, and a fore (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: John Rule (Advisor) Subjects: