Historical Communities reveals the importance of urban history writing in early modern France, from the 1560s to the 1660s, both for individual towns and the French kingdom. Grounded in published and manuscript works, archival sources, correspondence, and research notes, the book demonstrates how historical traditions mattered to city inhabitants and how local elites combined historical narratives with social and political objectives. Numerous conflicts emerged, including debates regarding city origins, the early French Church, noble genealogies, and the memory of the French Wars of Religion....

In this erudite book, Ian Adamson provides a comprehensive history of Gresham College in the seventeenth century, particularly its contribution to the intellectual, educational, and administrative life of London and England. He analyses its relationship with the Tudor and Stuart courts, the Corporation of London, the universities, and the Royal Society, and assesses the quality and effectiveness of all the professors elected during this period. Finally, he explains the presence in the College of Ben Jonson and Sir Kenelm Digby, why it is likely that Shakespeare was often in attendance, and...