The tree of commonwealth, 1450-1793

"This book delineates the nature and evolution of the concept of the commonwealth in early modern England, from its late-medieval roots to its virtual disintegration against the vastly different background of the late eighteenth century. In part an outgrowth of the ideas explored in the author's publications upon mid-Tudor and late-eighteenth-century England, it rests also on many years of research into the Elizabethan, Stuart, and early-eighteenth-century eras. While full account is taken of authoritative secondary works, including recent scholarly controversies, the book's strength comes from the detailed illustration from original sources of its comparative analysis."--BOOK JACKET.