Besieged: Early Modern British Siege Literature, 1642-1722

Besieged explores the popularity and potency of siege literature between the British Civil War and the Great Northern War, offering a valuable perspective on the cultural imagination during and after the traumatic civil wars of the 1640s. It draws on theories of space and place to show how early modern Britons worked to make sense of the immediacy, horror, and trauma of urban warfare, providing a timely foundation for understanding the history of such spaces and their cultural representation.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 15 January 2021
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

Siege literature has a rich history that dates back to ancient times, but its significance as a vital component of culture has not always been fully recognized. In recent years, scholars have increasingly focused on the magnetic force of sieges, particularly during the British Civil War and the Great Northern War in Europe. This period saw a surge in literary texts that explored the siege mentality and tactics employed by both sides.

Besieged, a groundbreaking work by Sharon Alker and Holly Faith Nelson, delves into the siege as depicted in canonical works by Milton, Dryden, Defoe, Davenant, Cowley, Cavendish, and Bunyan, as well as a wide array of lesser-known memoirs, plays, poems, and works of prose fiction on military and civilian experiences of siege warfare. By drawing on theories of space and place, Alker and Nelson demonstrate how early modern Britons feverishly worked to make sense of the immediacy, horror, and trauma of urban warfare.

The narratives of besieged cities became a compelling way to engage with the fragility of urban space, unstable social structures, developing technologies, and the inadequacy of old heroic martial models. This perspective provides a valuable foundation for understanding the history of such spaces and their cultural representation.

Given the reality of urban warfare in our own age, Besieged offers a timely foundation for understanding the history of such spaces and their cultural representation.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228005407