Tudor frontiers and noble power1995
the making of the British state
by Steven G. Ellis
This controversial book offers a novel perspective on Tudor government and British state formation. It argues that traditional studies focusing on lowland England as 'the normal context of government' exaggerate the regime's successes by marginalizing the borderlands. Frontiers were normal in early-modern Europe, however, and central to the problem of state formation.
Steve Ellis argues that England's peripheries were more extensive than the core and provide the real yardstick by which the effectiveness of government can be measured. He demonstrates their importance by means of a detailed comparative study of two marches - Cumbria and Ireland - and their ruling magnates.
He exposes the flaws in early Tudor policy - characterized by long periods of neglect, interspersed with sporadic...