The Rise of the Social Terminology in the Early Stuart Antiquarian Discourse

Abstract

The peculiarity of the Early Stuart Antiquarian narratives with their different structures and forms allows to reconstruct the mechanisms of autonomisation and construction of the social on its early stages. The Antiquarian historical writing turned the wide range of components forming the “community of the Realm” into the object of classification. In several Antiquarian narratives this act of classification was implemented into a special form of the orders of precedence. This form of hierarchical organization conformed to the traditional Medieval patterns, both notional and visual. Feudal titles and dignities constituted the core of the order of precedence, sometimes non-feudal statuses and state offices were added.