Intellectual Culture of the English Country House, 1500–1700

Matthew Dimmock is Professor of Early Modern Studies at the University of SussexAndrew Hadfield is Professor of English at the University of SussexMargaret Healy is Professor of Literature and Culture at the University of Sussex

• Introduction – Matthew Dimmock, Andrew Hadfield and Margaret Healy1. ‘The Lordship of the Eye’: Country houses as the setting for intellectual enquiry – Maurice HowardPart I: Cultural reconstructions of the English country house2. William Warham’s Otford Palace: An Archbishop’s motivations for building (c.1514–26) – Alden Gregory3. Rediscovering a lost Tudor mansion through archives and manuscripts: The Rycote Project at the Bodleian Library – Matthew Neely4. ‘To Knole, and then ‘To Penshurst’: The network of patronage between two country houses in the early seventeenth century – Edward TownPart II. Reconstructing the culture of the English country house5. Decorating the Godly Gallery: Piety and politics in plasterwork at Lanhydrock House, Cornwall – Tara Hamling6. Sir Thomas Smith’s stillhouse at Hill Hall: printed books, antiquity and innovative practice – Richard Simpson7. A most studious searcher after truth: the 9th Earl of Northumberland and Scientia – Alison McCann8. Anne Finch and the fallen country house – Nicolle Jordan9. Elite pageantry as popular news: Elvetham House, John Wolfe, and country-house entertainment in print – Elizabeth Zeman Kolkovich Part III: The country house library and its intellectual significance10. Country houses and the beginnings of bibliomania – James Raven11. Looking back from 1700: problems in locating the country house library – Susie West12. My Laydes Bookes att Noward...: Putting readers back into the english country house – Hannah DeGroffPart IV. Case study: Wilton House13. Wilton House and seventeenth-century country house literature – Anne Myers14. Performing Arcadia: Wilton House, theatre, and power – Marta Straznicky15. Wilton House and the art of floating meadows – Louise NobleAfterword - Andy Loukes, Nicholas Pickwoad and Mark PurcellIndex

'Over the two hundred years covered in this wide-ranging collection of articles, country houses were among the most important centres of literary and cultural activity in England. Their architecture, decoration, and social history have been extensively chronicled by Mark Girouard, Maurice Howard, and others, but their significance for English culture in its wider sense has received less scholarly attention. This engaging collection of short articles goes a long way towards redressing that balance … This well-written, well-edited volume deserves the attention of anyone interested in the art, literature, and wider culture of early modern England. It makes the important point that country houses were not just vehicles for ostentatious display; they could also be settings for creative leisure, or otium as the ancient Romans saw it in contrast to the negotium of the workaday world.'Notes and Queries