Community and Its Structure in the Local Antiquarian Writing in the 17th Century

Abstract

The works of the late Tudor and the early Stuart antiquaries made up the intellectual space for specification and autonomization of the social from the other segments of the collective conscience. The substantial complex of the antiquarian text was written by the authors who were connected with the English local provincial communities by their origin, family connections or career. They defined a peripherical local community describing its precise territorial boundaries, taking it for the semantic center of the whole English kingdom. The local community was represented as the most perfect part of the whole English landscape, while its members were provided with all positive qualities.