Group Petitioning and the Performance of Neighbourliness in the West Midlands, 1589-1700

Abstract

Using 192 petitions from the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Quarter Sessions, this article questions whether petitioning culture in the early modern West Midlands supports the idea of the ‘decline of neighbourliness’. It frames group petitioning as an inherently social and neighbourly (yet performative) act in which a signatory was entering into an exchange of ‘social capital’. Ultimately, it is argued that as mentions of immoral behaviour became rarer, and demands of relief for poverty-stricken neighbours rose, petitions may appear to present a firm counter-argument to the supposed ‘decline of neighbourliness’. However, there are strong hints, such as the increasing likelihood to provide a mark or signature, that people joined petitioning groups for individualistic aims. Thus, group petitions show that neighbourliness and individualism should not be seen as mutually exclusive in early modern communities.