Table of Contents

Preface; Introduction; Part I. The Liquid Empire of Office: 1. An overview; 2. Ceremonies of office: the kiss of the Tutti-Man; 3. Institutionalised office: a sense of the scavenger; 4. The vocabulary of office; 5. Offices of the intellect: player, poet and philosopher; 6. Soul and conscience; Part II. The Authority and Insolence of Office; 7. The cases of patriot and counsellor; 8. Casuistry as the mediation of office; 9. The case of resistance to superior power; 10. Metaphor and political autonomy; Part III 'I, A, B': 11. An overview of the oath in seventeenth-century argument; 12. Coronation oaths; 13. The oath of allegiance of 1606; 14. Engagement with a free state; 15. The oath of allegiance and the Revolution of 1688-9; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

Promotional Information

A radical reappraisal of the character of moral and political theory in early modern England.

About the Author

Conal Condren is Scientia Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of New South Wales.