'Ye shall disturbe noe mans right': Oath-taking and oath-breaking in late medieval and early modern Bristol

Lee, James

Abstract

Oaths of office are generally well preserved for many English towns and cities and they can tell us a great deal about the theoretical and (perhaps to a lesser extent) practical duties of office-holders. In the light of recent scholarly interest in oaths in the context of investiture ceremonies, this article examines the rhetoric of oath texts to highlight some aspects of the political cultures of urban office-holding elites and their attempts to maintain stability. © 2007 Cambridge University Press.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: May 1, 2007
• Deposit Date: Jan 22, 2010
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 15, 2016
• Journal: Urban History
• Print ISSN: 0963-9268
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-8706
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 27-38
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963926807004312
• Keywords: oath-taking, oath-breaking, medieval, early modern, Bristol
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1028004
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0963926807004312
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Dr Raingard Esser of the History Department at UWE is joint editor of this special issue of Urban History.
• Contract Date: Nov 15, 2016