Eric H. Ash - The Draining of the Fens: Projectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England

The Draining of the Fens

Johns Hopkins Studies in the History of Technology

Merritt Roe Smith, Series Editor

THE DRAINING OF THE FENS

Projectors, Popular Politics, and State Building in Early Modern England

ERIC H. ASH

Johns Hopkins University Press

Baltimore

2017 Johns Hopkins University Press

All rights reserved. Published 2017

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Ash, Eric H., 1972 author.

Title: The draining of the Fens : projectors, popular politics, and state building in early modern England / Eric H. Ash.

Description: Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. | Series: Johns Hopkins studies in the history of technology | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016028456 | ISBN 9781421422008 (hardcover : acid-free paper) | ISBN 142142200X (hardcover : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9781421422015 (electronic) | 1421422018 (electronic)

Subjects: LCSH: Fens, The (England)History16th century. | Fens, The (England)History17th century. | DrainageEnglandFens, TheHistory. | Reclamation of landEnglandFens, TheHistory. | Fens, The (England)Environmental conditions. | Fens, The (England)Politics and government. | Political developmentSocial aspectsEnglandHistory. | Government, Resistance toEnglandHistory. | Great BritainPolitics and government15581603. | Great BritainPolitics and government16031649 | BISAC: SCIENCE / History. | HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain. | TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History. | HISTORY / Renaissance.

Classification: LCC DA670.F33 A79 2017 | DDC 942.6dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016028456

A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.

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For Catherine, Claire, and Henry, with love

Contents

Acknowledgments

Many years ago, as I was finishing up work on my doctoral dissertation, my graduate adviser, Tony Grafton, told me that when I was ready to start thinking about a second book project, I might want to look into the draining of the Fens. He seemed to remember that there were abundant sources for such a project, he said, and thought it might be right up my alley. Thus it was that I acquired the first of many debts of gratitude in the course of researching and writing this book.

I must gratefully acknowledge the generous financial and institutional support I have received from various sources throughout the years. The archival research for this book was undertaken over many trips to the United Kingdom, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation in 20024 (SES-0301851), a Wayne State University Career Development Chair in 20078, and a WSU Humanities Center faculty fellowship in 200910. I first began work on the project during a postdoctoral fellowship at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 20012 (an institution, regrettably, no longer in existence). I was a WSU Humanities Center resident scholar in 2008, when I drafted the first few chapters, and I want to thank the centers director, Dr. Walter Edwards, for his long-standing support of this project and of all humanities research at WSU. The bulk of the writing was done at the Huntington Library, where I was fortunate enough to be a long-term Dibner Fellow in the History of Science in 201314I cannot think of a more conducive, supportive, or pleasant place to work. I am particularly grateful to Steve Hindle, Juan Gomez, and Catherine Wehrey-Miller for all of their assistance during my year there. My colleagues in the WSU Department of History have supported my work in so many ways, and I especially want to thank Marc Kruman and Liz Faue, the former and current chairs, for their help, advice, and friendship.

Early modern fen drainage manuscripts are voluminous and impressively well distributed; it was impossible to see everything I might have wanted. My research was primarily undertaken at the British Library (Manuscripts, Rare Books, and Maps collections), the National Archives at Kew (Chancery Papers, Exchequer Papers, State Papers, Domestic Series, and Maps and Plans), the Cambridge University Library (including the Ely Diocesan Records, now housed there), and the Cambridgeshire County Record Office (where the Bedford Level Corporation papers are held). I also examined various documents and collections at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, the Parliamentary Archives, the Norfolk Record Office, the University of Nottingham (Manuscripts and Special Collections), and the Huntington Library. I am very grateful to the knowledgeable and courteous staff at all of these institutions for their assistancethey help to make archival research a joy. The WSU Library has been a real ally in helping me to locate and obtain hard-to-find items, and I wish to thank Cindy Krolikowski, the Library Liaison for the History Department, for all of her help. I have made frequent use of the University of Michigan and Michigan State Libraries, particularly the microform collections in each place, as well as the Michigan Electronic Library system, which is really a wonderful statewide resource. The photographic reproduction staff at the Huntington Library, Houghton Library at Harvard University, the British Library, Cambridge University Library, and the National Portrait Gallery all helped me to navigate the sometimes tricky process of acquiring and reproducing the illustrations in this book.

I have presented portions of this project at numerous symposia, colloquia, and conferences, including the History of Science Colloquium at Johns Hopkins University; the Cabinet of Natural History seminar series at Cambridge University; the History Seminar at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt in Munich; the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Colloquium at UCLA; the Seminar on History and Philosophy of Science at Caltech; the History of Science Society annual meeting; the North American Conference on British Studies annual meeting; the Midwest Conference on British Studies annual meeting; and the American Society of Environmental History annual meeting. I have received valuable feedback from auditors at each forum, who have helped me to make this a better project. I also wish to thank the editorial staff at Johns Hopkins University Press, especially Elizabeth Demers, Meagan Szekely, and Bob Brugger for all of their support and guidance during the long process of revising and publishing the manuscript. Bob Cronan at Lucidity Information Design did a wonderful job on all of the custom-made maps in the book. It was a pleasure to work with Beth Gianfagna at Log House Editorial Services, whose careful attention in copyediting the book saved me from making numerous errors.

I have also benefited greatly from the advice, support, hospitality, and friendship of numerous individuals. Julie Bowring was kind enough to share a number . All of these scholars have helped me to hone my argument and avoid mistakes both large and small; any remaining shortcomings in the book are, of course, mine alone. Erica Charters, Susanne Friedrich, Lauren Kassell, Frances Willmoth, and Jacob and Lauren Sager Weinstein have all made me feel welcome and at home during my trips overseas and have assisted me in more ways than I can count.