Travesties and Transgressions in Tudor and Stuart England (review)

Travesties and Transgressions in Tudor and Stuart England. By David Cressy (New York, Oxford University Press, 2000) 351 pp. $35.00.

Cressy wishes to probe under the surface of a society that prided itself on discipline and decorum and thus uncover how England coped with cultural difficulties. By scouring pamphlets, broadsheets, and court records, he investigates instances in which people broke the law, damaged property, mocked authority figures or sacred rites, defied those in power, or experienced personal tragedies. The result is a fascinating collection of stories on such topics as cross-dressing, abortion and infanticide, clandestine burial, ridicule of ministers, and parodies of religious rituals.

The incidents recounted touch on many important issues of English history. Because Cressy wants to discover how and when local events came to the attention of the authorities, the book speaks to the interaction of high and low culture as well as to the intersection of local and central government. Several tales illuminate power relations: The case of an illegally buried excommunicant reveals officials' difficulties in trying to obtain information from deferent but uncooperative villagers, and a local factional fight for superiority encouraged an accusation of infanticide. The story of a man dressing as a woman to enjoy the festivities of the birth chamber suggests, Cressy argues, that cross-dressing was neither a subversive abomination nor an eroticized transgression. In fact, Cressy discounts the notion of a gender system in crisis. The troubles of a midwife underscore the importance of activity to a woman's reputation. The legal testimony cited often documents the elision of rhetorical devices and lies in the court room, as well as the strenuous efforts of investigators to ascertain the truth.

The book is particularly effective treating the relationship between religion and politics. One chapter deals with the conflict between clergy and parishioners in the context of the impact and progress of reformation. Cressy also reveals the growing rigidity of church officials under Laudianism. He critiques the picture of the consensus and moderation of Charles' rule by examining William Prynne's collision with those in power. Cressy concludes that although English society was committed to the principles of uniformity and obedience, it also demonstrated remarkable tolerance and flexibility in practice, preferring to accommodate, rather than eliminate, difference.

Cressy does not envisage this work as a conventional history but as "a project in creative listening," in which he immerses himself in the stories and reproduces many of them verbatim. The work is not oriented toward the minute analysis of problems nor to test a hypothesis, but to allow past individuals to speak, or not: "[P]art of my project is to capture and calibrate historical noise" (2). The book falls into two parts: The first part, about sexuality, is more slanted toward "creative listening"; the second, about religious disruptions, comprises more conventional discussions. The second half works better; the essays have more focus and a central argument situated within the historiography. At times, the interpretive overlay is too conspicuously missing from the early chapters. For example, the story of Rose Arnold's seduction pre-sents only her confession and encourages readers to "make of it what they will" (82). A story "sheds light," or is "richly revealing," but Cressy rarely specifies how. He suggests possible lines of enquiry and lays out his research path in his notes, but he too often refrains from conveying his perspective. His explicit insights and interpretations would have been valuable. Must "creative listening" eliminate the historian's voice?

Linda A. Pollock
Tulane University

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