This is a somewhat stripped down version of the bibliography for my PhD Thesis, which will also provide another post for this series. The annotations below are impressions and evaluations rather than summaries. This list covers the period 1660-1749, and includes the sources that most directly related to my study of the early modern Royal Navy.
The Fiscal-Military State
I didn’t really get into “the money” and spending per se in my PhD, however, these is the current leading edge of discussions of the early modern state and military. These also provided an important context, as comparisons can be made between Parliament/the Monarch’s willingness to spend money to do something/make a point, and their willingness to use their authority to define the Royal Navy. Of these, I found Pincus & Robinson very useful particularly due to the shift in language in their articles in describing England as an ‘Interventionist’ or ‘Developmental’ state. Abigail Swingen’s book (Which she wrote about here) is simply the best book I’ve ever read about the British Atlantic economy and empire (1650 to 1710ish), about mercantilism, and about slavery.
Bowen, Huw et al. ‘The Contractor state: 1650-1815’ International Journal of Maritime History, 2013, pp. 239-274
Brandon, Pepijn. War, Capital and the Dutch state (1588-1795). Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Brewer, John. The Sinews of Power: War, Money and the English State 1688-1783. London: Unwin Hyman, 1989.
Glete, Jan. ‘The Swedish Fiscal-Military State and its Navy, 1521- 1721’, http://www2.historia.su.se/personal/jan_glete/Glete-Swedish_Fiscal-military_state.pdf
Graham, A. & P. Walsh. The British Fiscal-Military States, 1660-c.1783. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016
Pincus, Steven and James Robinson, ‘Wars and state-Making Reconsidered: The Rise of the Interventionist state’ http://www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/upload_documents/Wars%20and%20State-Making%20Reconsidered-%20The%20Rise%20of%20the%20Interventionist%20State%20June%202014.pdf
‘Faire la guerre et faire l’État’, Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales 1/2016 (71e année) , pp. 5-36
Swingen, Abigail. Competing Visions of Empire: Labor, Slavery, and the Origins of the British Atlantic Empire. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015.
Royal Navy History
Socio-Cultural History
These books are where I started my PhD. Without J.D. Davies in particular, there would be no PhD. The Gueritz article was one that I used for my MA, and that kept pushing me to consider institutional culture and identity. Elias Norbert is particularly interesting as it’s a demonstration of how historical discussions of military professionalization really do need to engage with sociological theory. N.A.M. Rodger is prolific and authority, and frankly his books provided good quotes that I used to show why new work and new approaches were needed. Reading Sarah Kinkel’s PhD *completely* transformed the final chapter of my thesis, and was what allowed me to come to my final argument about Parliament and the Admiralty each taking on part of the other’s ability to define the Royal Navy (At times).
Capp, Bernard. Cromwell’s Navy: The Fleet and the English Revolution, 1648-1660, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989
Corbett, Julian. Ed. Fighting Instructions, 1530-1816. Navy Records Society, 1905.
Davies, J.D. Gentlemen and Tarpaulins: The Officers and Men of the Restoration Navy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
Pepys’s Navy: Ships, Men and Warfare 1649-89. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2002.
Britannia’s Dragon: A Naval History of Wales. Stroud: The History Press, 2013.
Kings of the Sea: Charles II, James II and the Royal Navy. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, forthcoming, 2017
Navy, Parliament and Political Crisis in the Reign of Charles II’ The Historical Journal, Vol. 36, No. 2. Jun., 1993) pp. 271-288
‘Pepys and the Naval Commission 1679-1684’ Historical Research, Vol. 67, No. 147. pp. 34-53
‘Fubbs Yes, Mum No: The Naming of British Warships, c.1660-c.1714, Part 1’ Gentlemen and Tarpaulins Blog, 30 July 2012. http://gentlemenandtarpaulins.com/2012/07/30/fubbs-yes-mum-no/
‘A Hope and A Sandwich: The Naming of Stuart Warships, c1660-c1714, Part 2’ Gentlemen and Tarpaulins Blog, http://gentlemenandtarpaulins.com/2012/08/13/a-hope-and-a-sandwich-the-naming-of-stuart-warships-c1660-c1714-part-2/
‘Saints and Soldiers: The Naming of Stuart Warships, c.1660-c.1714, Part 3.’ Gentlemen and Tarpaulins Blog, http://gentlemenandtarpaulins.com/2012/08/20/saints-and-soldiers-the-naming-of-stuart-warships-c-1660-c-1714-part-3/
Dickinson, H.W. Educating the Royal Navy: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Education for Officers. London: Routledge, 2007.
Elias, Norbert. ‘Studies in the Genesis of the Naval Profession’. The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 1, No. 4. (Dec., 1950) pp. 291-309
The Genesis of the Naval Profession, ed. R. Moelker and S. Mennell. Dublin: University College of Dublin Press, 2007.
Gueritz, E.F. ‘Nelson’s Blood: Attitudes and Actions of the Royal Navy 1939-45’ Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 16, No. 3, The Second World War: Part 2 (Jul., 1981), pp. 487-499
Harding, Richard. Modern Naval History: Debates and Prospects. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2016.
Kinkel, Sarah. ‘The King’s Pirates? Naval Enforcement of Imperial Authority, 1740-46’, The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol 71, No. 1 (Jan 2014), pp. 3-34
Kinkel, Sarah. Disciplining the Empire: Georgian Politics, Social Hierarchy, and the Rise of the British Navy, 1725-1775. PhD Thesis, Yale University, 2012.
Miller, Amy. Dressed to Kill: British naval uniform, masculinity and contemporary fashions, 1748-1857. London: National Maritime Museum, 2007.
Rodger, N. A. M. Articles of War: The Statutes which Governed Our Fighting Navies 1661, 1749, and 1886. Hampshire: Kenneth Mason, 1982.
The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co, 1990.
Safeguard of the Seas: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1997.
The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649-1815. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
‘The Naval ‘Service of the Cinque Ports’ The English Historical Review, Vol. 111, No. 442 (Jun., 1996), pp. 636-651
‘Commissioned officers’ careers in the Royal Navy, 1690-1815′. Journal of Maritime Research, Vol 3, No. 1, (June, 2001), pp. 165-218
‘Honour and duty at sea, 1660-1815’ Historical Research, vol. 75, no. 190 (November 2002) pp. 425-447
‘From the ‘military revolution’ to the ‘fiscal-naval’ state’, Journal for Maritime Research 13, 2 (2011), pp. 119-128
Wilson, Evan, Jakob Seerup & Anna Sara Hammar (2015) The education and
careers of naval officers in the long eighteenth century: an international perspective, Journal for Maritime Research, 17:1, 17-33, DOI: 10.1080/21533369.2015.1024515
Royal Navy and the Law
Acland’s work is predictably whiggish in it’s approach, but for discussions of the development of the Articles of War, it’s what was available. Robert Glass’ paper is really good but also quite difficult to find. I also suggest looking at Anna Brinkman‘s work.
Acland, R. ‘The Naval Articles of War‘ Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, Third Series, Vol. 3, No. 4 (1921) pp. 190-201
‘The Developments of Naval Courts-Martial‘ Journal of Comparative Legislation and International Law, Third Series, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1922), pp. 38-40
Allen, Douglas W. ‘Compatible Incentives and the Purchase of Military Commissions’ The Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 1998), pp. 45-66
Glass, Robert ‘Naval Courts-Martial in the 18th Century’ in New Interpretations in Naval History: Selected Papers from the Twefth Naval History Symposium held at the United States Naval Academy, 26-27 October 1995. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1997.
Steckley, George F. ‘Collisions, Prohibitions, and the Admiralty Court in Seventeenth-Century London’ Law and History Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 2003), pp. 41-67
Administration and Logistics
These were fundamental to understanding *what* the Royal Navy was, both before and after 1660. Baugh’s NRS volume and book are the classics, although very difficult to purchase now. The theme of this section is ‘continuities’.
Baugh, Daniel A. British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1965.
Naval Administration 1715-1750 (The Navy Records Society, London: William Clowes & Son 1977.
Black, Jeremy, and Philip Woodfine, eds. The British Navy and the Use of Naval Power in the Eighteenth Century. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1988.
Buchet, Christian. ‘Les Modalité de la Logistique Anglaise en Matériel Naval dan L’espace Caraibe (1689-1763)’ Histoire, Économie et Société, Vol 11, No. 4 (4e trimestre 1992), pp 571-596
Coats, Ann ‘English Naval Administration under Charles I- Top Down and Bottom Up- Tracing Continuities’ in Transactions of the Naval Dockyard Society, Vol. 8 (June 2012) pp. 9-30
Crewe, Duncan. Yellow Jack and the Worm: British Naval Administration in the West Indies. Liverpool University Press, 2003.
Davies, C.S.L. ‘The Administration of the Royal Navy under Henry VIII: The Origins of the Navy Board’ The English Historical Review, Vol. 80, No. 315 (Apr., 1965) pp. 268-288
Deshpande, Anirudh. ‘Limitations of Military Technology: Naval Warfare on the West Coast, 1650-1800’ Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 27, No. 17 (Apr. 25, 1992), pp. 900-904
Oppenheim, Michael. Ed. The Naval Tracts of Sir William Monson in Six Books Volume 4. sl: Navy Records Society, 1913.
‘The Royal Navy under Charles I’ The English Historical Review, Vol. 9, No. 33 (Jan., 1894), pp. 92-116
‘The Royal Navy under Charles I: Part III – The Administration’ English Historical Review, Vol. 9, No. 35. Jul., 1894), pp. 473-492
‘The Navy of the Commonwealth, 1649-1660,’ English Historical Review, Vol. 11 (No. 41. Jan., 1896): pp. 20-81
Tanner, J.R. ‘Pepys and the Popish Plot’ The English Historical Review, Vol. 7, No. 26 (Apr., 1892), pp. 281-290
‘Naval Preparations of James II in 1688’ The English Historical Review, Vol. 8, No. 30 (Apr., 1893), pp. 272-283
‘The Administration of the Navy from the Restoration to the Revolution’ English Historical Review Vol. 12, No. 45 (Jan., 1897), pp. 17-66
‘The Administration of the Navy from the Restoration to the Revolution: Part II.-1673-1679. Continued)’, English Historical Review, Vol. 13, No. 49 (Jan. 1898); pp. 26-54
‘The Administration of the Navy from the Restoration to the Revolution. Part III.-1679-1688. Continued)’, The English Historical Review, Vol. 14, No. 54 (Apr., 1899); pp. 261-289
‘Samuel Pepys and the Trinity House’ The English Historical Review, Vol. 44, No. 176 (Oct., 1929), pp. 573-587
Thrush, Andrew. The Navy Under Charles I 1625-40. PhD Thesis, University College London, 1990.
Todd, Hilary ‘Charles, James, and the recreation of the Royal Navy 1660-1665’ Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society vol 8, (June 2012)
Tomlinson, H. C. ‘The Ordnance Office and the Navy, 1660-1714’ The English Historical Review, Vol. 90, No. 354 (Jan., 1975), pp. 19-39
Wheeler, J.S. ‘Navy Finance, 1649-1660’, The Historical Journal, Vol. 39, No. 2 (Jun., 1996) pp. 457-66
Turnbull, A. The Administration of the Royal Navy 1660-1673. PhD Thesis, Leeds University, 1974.
Willis, Sam. Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century: the Art of Sailing Warfare. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2008
The Admiral Benbow: The Life and Times of a Naval Legend. London: Quercus, 2010.
Wilkinson, Clive. The British Navy and the State in the Eighteenth Century. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press in association with the National Maritime Museum, 2004.
Strategy and Operations
Strategy and Operations as such were not a major part of my thesis, but provided important context. I do want to highlight Robert Passfield’s book, however. The first two chapters are a thorough investigation of the 1690 attack on Quebec by Massachusetts forces under Phips. The last chapter is a really important discussion on the relationship between Massachusetts and England in 1690. Passfield’s discussion of the concept of a ‘suzerainty’ is what led me to consider the state-like attributes of the Royal Navy as defined in 1660, and then to the Westminster Model notion.
Ehrman, John. ‘William III and the Emergence of the Mediterranean Naval Policy 1692-1694’ The Cambridge Historical Journal 9, (1949) pp. 269-92
Graham, G.S. ‘The Naval Defence of British North America 1739-1763.’ Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Fourth Series, 30 (1948), pp. 95-110
Gwyn, Julian. ‘The Royal Navy in North America, 1712-1776.’ In The British Navy and the Use of Naval Power in the Eighteenth Century, edited by Jeremy Black and Philip Woodfine, 129-147. Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1988.
Murphy, Elaine. Ireland and the War at Sea, 1641-1653. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2012.
Newman, Peter C. Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers that Seized a Continent. Toronto: Penguin, 2000.
Pack, S.W.C. The Wager Mutiny. London: Alvin Redman, 1964.
Palmer, Michael.’The Soul’s Right Hand’: Command and Control in the Age of Fighting Sail, 1652-1827′ The Journal of Military History, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Oct., 1997), pp. 679-705
Passfield, Robert. Phip’s Amphibious Assault on Quebec-1690. Ottawa: self-published, 2011.
Ships and People
In this section, Michael Lewis’s book is especially good. At first, I didn’t think much of it, but he has some pretty good quotes about the professionalization of the Royal Navy as a process, and the way that he struggled to describe Elizabethan Sea Dogs and to draw comparisons to later Royal Navy officers is a compelling display of the difficulties of defining the attributes that go with professional or institutional labels and descriptions. Rif Winfield’s and Brian Lavery’s books are must-have references, and they make life a lot easier.
Goodwin, P. G. The Construction and Fitting of the English Man of War, 1650-1850. London: Conway, 2006.
Harding, ‘Edward Vernon, 1684-1757’ in Precursor’s of Nelson: British Admirals of the Eighteenth Century, Peter Le Fevre & Richard Harding Eds. (London: Stackpole Books, 2000) 173-74.
‘George, Lord Anson, 1697-1762.’ In Precursors of Nelson: British Admirals of the Eighteenth Century, edited by Peter Le Fevre and Richard Harding, 177-200. London: Chatham Publishing, 2000.
Lewis, Michael. England’s Sea Officers: The Story of the Naval Profession. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1939.
Lambert, Andrew. Admirals: The Naval Commanders who made Britain Great. London: Faber and Faber, 2008.
Le Fevre, Peter. ‘Tangier the Navy and It’s Connection with the Glorious Revolution of 1688’, Mariner’s Mirror Vol 73 No. 2, (1987) pp. 187-190
Lavery, Brian. The Ship of the Line Vol. 1: The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850. s.l: Conway Maritime Press.
Winfield, Rif. British Warships in the Age of Sail 1714–1792: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. np: Seaforth, 2007.
British Warships in the Age of Sail, 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2009.
