Underwood, D. “Revel, Riot and Rebellion: Popular Politics and Culture in England 1603-1660” (Oxford, Clarendon Press: 1985)

The radical independence of the Matsigenka, living in dispersed farmsteads and hamlets separate and apart from larger settlements, reminded me of a book I’d read linking non-conformism to landscape in seventeenth century England; David Underwood’s ‘Revel, Riot and Rebellion’. Underwood sought to explain allegiance during the Civil War in South West England. He proposed a novel thesis – “that contrasts in popular allegiance had a regional basis, and were related to local differences in social structure, economic development and culture.

Underwood identified two contrasting landscapes – chalk and cheese – and two datasets, essentially tests of Royalism.

At first glance, it looked like he was on to something:

Landscape and Prediction	Population	Royalist Pensioners	%	Royalist Suspects	%
Chalk + Blackmore (should be more Royalist)	56,150	623	76%	1,079	72%
S&W + Heathland (should be more Puritan)	27,950	192	24%	428	28%
County Total	84,100	815	100%	1,507	100%

… but on closer examination, he wasn’t.