Sir Robert Filmer (1588–1653) and the patriotic monarch

This book, now available in paperback, studies the patriarchalist theories of Sir Robert Filmer (1588–1653) in the context of early modern English and European political cultures. Making use of unexplored primary material and adopting an innovative contextual approach, Cuttica provides a long-overdue account of an often referred-to but largely misunderstood thinker. By focusing on Filmer’s most important writing, Patriarcha (written in the 1620s–30s but published in 1680), this monograph rethinks some crucial issues in the reading of political history in the seventeenth century. Most importantly, it invites new reflections on the theory of patriarchalism and gives novel insights into the place of patriotism in the development of English political discourse and identity.

Thanks to its originality in both approach and content, this volume will be of interest to historians of early modern England as well as scholars of political thought.

Introduction
Part I
1. Filmer: his life and cultural interests
2. From Kent with anger: Patriarcha versus Thomas Scott’s country patriotism
3. Filmer’s patriarchalism versus Jesuit political ideas
4. Filmer’s patriarchalism in context: ‘popularity’, King James VI and I, Parliament and monarchists
5. Writing in the early Caroline regime and the issue of Patriarcha’s non-publication
6. Filmer in the 1640s and 1650s: political troubles and intellectual activism
Part II
7. Publishing in the Exclusion Crisis (1679-81): Patriarcha between fatherhood and fatherland
8. Much ado about nothing? Edmund Bohun’s rehabilitation of Patriarcha, the issue of allegiance and Adamite anti-republicanism
9. Patriarchalism versus patriotism in practice: Patriarcha from the Rye House Plot (1683) to the Glorious Revolution (1688-89)
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index