Revel, Riot, and Rebellion

What have maypoles, charivari processions, and stooball matches to do with the English Civil War? In this pioneering synthesis of social history and popular culture, Underdown relates political diversity to cultural diversity, and shows that local differences in popular allegiance in the Civil War coincided with regional contrasts in the traditional festive culture. This book is an important reinterpretation of both the English Revolution and the relationship between society, politics, and culture in the seventeenth century.