Penury into Plenty: Dearth and the Making of Knowledge in Early Modern England

Description

Penury into Plenty: Dearth and the Making of Knowledge in Early Modern England is an original examination of cultural meanings of dearth and famine in England at the turn of the sixteenth century. It focuses on the socio-economic and ecological crises of the 1590s, investigating the effects of widespread fears of famine on mundane activities and knowledge making by analyzing the remedial measures undertaken by the early modern English to illustrate their commitment to resource management. The activities, theories, and publications of the prolific ‘dearth scientist’ Sir Hugh Platt are considered alongside other forms of literature such as sermons, plays, poetry and prose fiction to explain not only what dearth or famine meant in the period, but how contemporaries understood sustainable resource management. By drawing upon environmental, economic, scientific, and literary history and theory, Penury into Plenty allows modern readers to see that sustainability is not a wholly modern concept and the investigation of cultural forms of ecological consciousness and social consequences of past environmental change is vital for understanding contemporary concerns. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figures Acknowledgements Note on text Abbreviations 1. Introduction: The problem of dearth in early modern England Writing histories of dearth Entitlements and anxieties Charity, discontent, and “sustainability” Notes 2. Literatures of dearth God, the “proper cause” of dearth Turning penury into plenty Literary dearth Notes 3. Dearth and knowledge making Sir Hugh Platt, dearth scientist The knowledge-makers: Platt and his network Elizabethan dearth science Notes 4. earth science, sustainability, and the economy of manure Natural magic and the circulation of nourishment Manure and the circulation of knowledge Recycling: “A practical discourse upon salt” Economic cooperation: case study of soap boiling The poetics of manure Notes 5. Sustainable households Consumption and preservation Households and trades Dreams of plenty Notes 6. Trading in dearth Trading and natural resources Luxuries and necessities Dearth science vs. sustainability Notes Bibliography Index