Royalism and Social Change: The Case of James Howell

Abstract The suggestion of a politically contingent and successfully adaptable royalist identity is at the forefront of current debates in Royalist Studies and this essay is an intervention in these discussions. The essay begins by offering a brief overview of the way new research has attempted to re‐evaluate the royalist experience during the civil wars and interregnum. It follows with an examination of selected popular writings by the royalist pamphleteer James Howell (1594–1666). The essay argues that Howell’s writings provide an opportunity to observe the crisis of royalist identity and it questions the extent to which Howell productively negotiated changes in the social fabric. By situating Howell within current developments within the field the essay seeks to understand how royalist identities functioned in the context of ideological struggle. Popular discourses during this period drew on humoral physiology to attempt to make sense of civil disruption and account for social and political changes. The essay traces Howell’s contribution to these discussions by following his discourses on commercial society and that of the holistic body politic. The essay suggests that this juncture would prove a productive site for further investigations into the royalist experience and concludes with suggestion that Howell’s writings produce a discordant, rather than successfully adaptable subject position.