Abstract
The article examines Old English claims to catholic ‘liberty of conscience’ and the way in which this engendered a discussion of English liberties in Ireland. Old English representatives sought to ground their claims to ‘liberty of conscience’ in established practice, custom and law. Their claims to ‘liberty of conscience’ also brought into play the vocabulary of corporate and parliamentary liberty. In response, New English protestants turned to ideas of duty and citizenship, which were equally embedded in conceptions of English liberties. They argued that a catholic ‘conscience’ sat in opposition to ideas of duty to the king and the commonwealth. In doing so, the New English questioned both the basis and extent of the liberties possessed by the Old English. Such an exchange, this article argues, is illustrative of the way in which an English pairing of liberties, with ideas of duty and active citizenship, opened up an area of dispute involving a shared set of political concepts and vocabulary.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 38-57 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | History of european ideas |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 27 Jun 2020 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 12 Jan 2021 |
Bibliographical note
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author-produced version of the published paper. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher’s self-archiving policy. Further copying may not be permitted; contact the publisher for details.Keywords
- duty and citizenship
- corporate and parliamentary liberty
- liberty of conscience
- catholic Old English & protestant New English
- custom and law