Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political Meaning of the Church

by William T. Cavanaugh

The element of popular resistance contradicts the modernizing narrative that sees in the growth of the state the progressive increase of political rights. In the crucial period of state formation, the state either absorbed rights previously resident in other bodies (guilds, manors, provinces, estates) or eliminated them altogether, as in the enclosure of common lands (Tilly, pp. 37-38). Close analyses of the history of taxation,18 policing,19 and food supply20 indicate that popular resistance to state-building was deep, broadly based, frequent, and violent. In England alone, the crown put down by force popular rebellions in 1489, 1497, 1536, 1547, 1549, and 1553, all responses to the centralizing efforts of the Tudors.