Affective Authority: Passions, Morality and Governance in Early Modern England

Throws new light on the history of emotions, as well as on cultural norms and elite governance in early modern English society.


This book investigates the intimate connection between emotion and morality in the landed ranks in England from 1580 to 1700, reintegrating the artificially separated spheres of emotions and ethics. It argues that, long before the "modern" eighteenth century, emotions lay at the core of early modern ethics: virtues and passions were fused and affect underpinned auth...