Professor Natalie Mears' Outputs (4)

James I and Gunpowder treason day (2020)
Journal Article
Williamson, P., & Mears, N. (2021). James I and Gunpowder treason day. Historical Journal, 64(2), 185-210. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x20000497

The assumed source of the annual early-modern English commemoration of Gunpowder treason day on 5 November – and its modern legacy, ‘Guy Fawkes day’ or ‘Bonfire night’ – has been an act of parliament in 1606. This article reveals the existence of ear... Read More about James I and Gunpowder treason day.

The culture of fasting in early Stuart parliaments (2020)
Journal Article
Mears, N. (2020). The culture of fasting in early Stuart parliaments. Parliamentary History, 39(3), 423-441. https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-0206.12522

The fasts, proposed and observed by parliament in the first half of the seventeenth century, have always been defined as opportunities for propaganda. This article focuses instead on their cultural and religious meanings: why MPs believed that the ac... Read More about The culture of fasting in early Stuart parliaments.

National Prayers: Special Worship since the Reformation. Volume 3: Worship for national and royal occasions in the United Kingdom, 1871-2016 (2020)
Book
Williamson, P., Taylor, S., Raffe, A., & Mears, N. (2020). National Prayers: Special Worship since the Reformation. Volume 3: Worship for national and royal occasions in the United Kingdom, 1871-2016

The third of four volumes, containing the edited texts, commentaries and source notes for each of the nearly nine hundred occasions of special worship including the development of national days of prayer during the two world wars,and a proliferation... Read More about National Prayers: Special Worship since the Reformation. Volume 3: Worship for national and royal occasions in the United Kingdom, 1871-2016.

The ‘holy days’ of Queen Elizabeth I (2020)
Journal Article
Mears, N., & Williamson, P. (2020). The ‘holy days’ of Queen Elizabeth I. History, 105(365), 201-228. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-229x.12971

The annual celebrations of the accession day and birthday of Queen Elizabeth I are a familiar subject in studies of her reign, yet their beginnings, status and purpose have remained uncertain. By examining revisions of the calendar of the Church of E... Read More about The ‘holy days’ of Queen Elizabeth I.