The 17th Century: Tracing Family History Reveals a Period Worth Exploring

Sixteenth-century novels are unfailingly popular, yet the seventeenth has not caught the popular imagination. Certainly the Tudors are larger-than-life, while seventeenth-century rulers possess little glamour, but if you find ordinary people more interesting than royalty, this is a period of unbounded riches.

These centuries are linked – the transition from medieval to modern. Were we to find ourselves in 1490, the world would be a very strange place. In 1710 it would not be so unfamiliar. Attitudes to religion, politics, and society in 1710 would come close to our own, while those of 1490 would feel quite alien.

What factors contributed to these changes? The most important was printing. Once books were no longer the rich man’s prerogative, a world of ideas was suddenly available to all. Cheaply printed pamphlets circulated new political and social ideas, igniting the desire for a fairer society. The publication of the Bible in the vernacular meant the common people could discover what it really contained, instead of depending on a church hierarchy.

As printing revealed the world of ideas, so improved shipbuilding and navigation revealed the physical world. Ancient belief in a flat earth was debunked. Whole nations and cultures, never before envisaged, were discovered by intrepid explorers. What excitement it must have engendered! The world offered treasures to the imagination – and to commerce! – far beyond the ken of those who had lived a little earlier.

This ferment of new ideas and discoveries bubbled away during the sixteenth century. In the seventeenth it exploded.

In England the century was dominated by Civil War. Suddenly it became possible to kill a king under a quasi-judicial procedure. Possible for an army to make a commoner, Cromwell, “protector”, ruling as an unconstitutional dictator. Possible for people to experiment with new social and religious practices: the Diggers, Levellers, Quakers all came into being at this time.

This period, so rich in exciting events, drew me to explore it through two novels based on fact. This Rough Ocean originated in family history. My husband’s family, land-owning gentry, is well documented. We were interested in John Swynfen and his wife, Anne. John was a Member of Parliament, so one might suppose he was a “Parliamentarian”, a “Roundhead”, an ally of Cromwell, willing killer of the king. Our research revealed that the truth was much more complex. John was a Moderate. This group was working for a more democratic society, greater powers for Parliament, a constructional monarchy. They wanted to curb the powers of the king, but were totally opposed to killing him.

Although the Moderates’ proposals were passed by Parliament, an army coup seized control, imprisoning forty leading Moderates, including John. It was this period I wanted to write about. What would it have been like for a man of conscience and strong principles to be imprisoned while the country fell under military dictatorship? A situation still familiar today. At the same time Anne had to take over her husband’s role, running a large estate at a time of lawlessness and dearth.

While researching the seventeenth century I came across the exploitation of the fenlands, first by the aristocracy, then, in mid-century, by new companies of “adventurers” (including Cromwell), who invested in enclosures to seize the lands of the fenlanders, bring in Dutch tenant farmers, and make personal fortunes. The fenlanders fought to save their livelihoods from these greedy capitalists, whose drainage schemes caused terrible damage. Amongst the leading protestors were a number of women, which led to the creation of the central character, Mercy, in my novel, Flood. These were the nameless commoners whose lives were threatened not only by the adventurers, but also by the terrifying witchhunts of the period.

From fenlanders to MPs, these ordinary people of the period – who had much in common with us – saw their lives shattered by the social earthquakes of the period. That is why it is worth exploring the seventeenth century.

About the contributor: Ann Swinfen is the author of eight historical novels, two of which are set in the 17th century. http://annswinfen.com/

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Published in Historical Novels Review  |  Issue 72, May 2015