This book focuses on the English East India Company's venture into silk manufacturing in Bengal and presents the Company as a manufacturer that invested over £1 million in developing raw silk production in India. The book thus complements two bodies of literature – the strand that portrays the English East India Company (EEIC) as a commercial monopolistic entity or power structure, and the one that explains the rise of European manufacturing in terms of import substitution. This book studies the activities of the EEIC in adapting Bengal raw silk production to meet the demands of British silk weavers. Central to this was the transfer of silk technologies from the West to the East – this was one of the first transfers from Europe to Asia rather than vice versa. The transfer occurred in a mercantilist framework, and the transferred technologies connected trade and manufacturing. The outcome of this venture was influenced by the business and management capacities of the EEIC and by British, and eventually imperial, policies. This book ultimately presents a case of manufacturing failure: it argues that rather than being a failure of colonial economies, it was a failure of British imperial policies. Such a failure produced negative consequences for the Indian economy and stifled Indian economic development. By studying a specific case of manufacturing failure this book also contributes to our understanding of the involution of the Indian economy.

Silk never achieved a high share of the global fibre market, and yet the economic, social and cultural role of silk in pre-industrial societies far outweighed its quantitative importance. Due to its high value and low volume, silk became one of the first globally traded commodities. Silk reeling – the process of silk thread production – and silk throwing – the process of making silk yarn from silk thread – were mechanised in Italy as early as the seventeenth and fourteenth century, respectively. As a labour-intensive industry, silk manufacturing had potential for employing the poor, produced goods of high value and generated state revenues through taxation. It thus attained the position of a strategic industry in many economies in Eurasia. The silk industry was also an important sector in Britain; although unable to produce raw silk domestically, Britain considered acquiring supplies of raw silk from its colonies and those territories under its influence. The most successful of such attempts was carried out by the EEIC in Bengal.

The corpus of evidence for Anglo-Saxon history contains only one narrative of an extended real-life feud. In its most detailed form it appears in a short tract known to historians as De obsessione Dunelmi. The story begins with events that may have taken place in 1006. Uhtred of the House of Bamburgh, the ruling family of the English region north of the River Tees, won a great victory against a Scottish army which had besieged Durham. After mounting the heads of the slain Scots on stakes around Durham's walls, he was summoned south to meet King Æthelred II and rewarded with an earldom that encompassed not just his family's northern heartlands but also what had, until the expulsion and killing of Erik Bloodaxe in 954, been the Scandinavian kingdom of York. Driven, perhaps, by the need to secure local allies in order to rule this region, Uhtred dismissed his first wife – Ecgfritha, daughter of the bishop of Durham – and instead married the daughter of a prominent Yorkshire nobleman named Styr. Styr, however, had a condition for the match: Uhtred was to kill his enemy, Thurbrand the Hold. But Thurbrand struck first. As England succumbed to Scandinavian conquest in the mid-1010s, Uhtred (as De obsessione tells it) remained staunchly loyal to King Æthelred, whose daughter had by this point become his third wife. However, in 1016, once Æthelred had died and Cnut had seized the throne, he had little option but to submit. Having secured safe-conduct from Cnut he travelled to the king's hall and entered his presence, whereupon, apparently as a result of Thurbrand's unspecified treachery, the king's soldiers sprang from their hiding place in a curtained-off section of the hall and slaughtered Uhtred and the forty men who accompanied him.

The next act in the drama is disappointingly vague: after a brief interlude Uhtred's earldom, now shorn of Yorkshire, passed to his son Ealdred, who killed Thurbrand in circumstances which are left obscure. Following this De obsessione provides more detail. There was a prolonged period of hostility in which Earl Ealdred and Carl, Thurband's son, made efforts to ambush and kill one another.

THE FIRST section, entitled ‘Emergence of new political and social practices’, traces the foundations of British sociability to identify when and due to what factors a different kind of sociability emerged in different parts of Britain. Several key examples provide a vivid picture of a burgeoning social life increasingly organised around distinctive social institutions and driven by new social norms and behaviours.

Tracing the origins of sociability back to the Restoration provides a starting point for defining the nature of sociability, and the historiographical approach chosen by Brian Cowan in the opening chapter helps one to understand the connection between the history of sociability and politics. Arguing that the history of post-Restoration sociabilities must be a social history of politics, the author shows that the development of many new social spaces (coffeehouses, clubs, theatres, pleasure gardens, etc.) was integrally related to the political divisions that helped to contribute to the development of political parties, the most important political innovation of the Restoration era.

The establishment of a new and distinctly modern regime of British sociability was also determined by spatial factors. This aspect is emphasised in the second chapter, which identifies discrepancies as well as coordination between the urban environment and social structure. Supported by some new cartographic and geopositioning methods, Marie-Madeleine Martinet's objective is to highlight the correspondence between urban design and social functions, with buildings designed for specific traditional activities. At the same time, the spatial turn adopted by this analysis reveals various emerging networks of hidden economic and scientific sociability.

In fact, the formation of social networks and the shaping of British practices of sociability were very much stimulated by the emergence and development of these new social institutions. Valérie Capdeville argues in chapter 3 that the first gentlemen's clubs, which multiplied in London from the Restoration years into the reign of Queen Anne, answered new ‘sociable’ aspirations in post-Restoration Britain. The success of club sociability and the development of its polite and exclusive character not only depended on the emergence of an ‘alternative political nation’ but also on the rise of a commercial society and an urban culture that were specifically British.

THE LATE EIGHTEENTH century saw the flourishing of new ideas about sociability that went by the name ‘conviviality’. While drawing on much older ideas about eating and drinking together, convivial practice developed distinctive characteristics in the later part of the century, challenging earlier models of sociability described most famously by Joseph Addison and associated with the coffeehouse. Thanks in part to the work of Jürgen Habermas, coffeehouse sociability has come to be associated (however accurately) with political discussion, newspaper reading and the rise of public opinion, a process by which ideas were shaped through rational critical debate. The idea of conviviality, whose spiritual home was the tavern, is fundamentally different because of its emphasis on warm-hearted good humour. At convivial meetings argument was by-passed. The goal was not the shaping of opinion, but a celebration of ideas already affirmed. Tavern gatherings consolidated already existing beliefs and promoted harmony through their avoidance of contention, and by their ritualised celebrations of collective belief such as convivial singing and – the focus of this chapter – toasting.

Toasting formally enacted the central principles of convivial agreement. First a toast was proposed, often a pithy, witty idea or opinion intended to reflect the feelings of all those gathered; then everyone responded, signalling their assent by drinking. Differences were set aside, unanimity was asserted, and indeed unanimity, or ‘social harmony’, was the precondition for the form. This observation, obvious though it may seem, challenges much of what has been written about toasting, which usually emphasises the oppositional nature of the eighteenth-century toast. In the Jacobite toasting mentioned by Peter Clark in his book on the English Alehouse, the Spencean toasts discussed by Iain McCalman in Radial Underworld, John Barrell's discussion of toasts used in evidence during the 1794 treason trials, or Georgina Green's discussion of the Duke of Norfolk's scandalous toast to the ‘Majesty of the People’, the emphasis has most frequently been on the way toasts take up a political position, either loyalist or radical, in order to counter a perceived problem with an established system of belief. My interest in this chapter is to consider why this might be so. Given that the form of the toast is precisely not oppositional, that it is a fundamentally consensus-building form, what might the difference between its formal function and its historical instantiation reveal?

The by-laws of the manor were understood by the tenants but not written in the manor court rolls. Below is a list of the customs for Willington, extracted from the manorial records. The customs were adapted over time according to changing circumstances.

Richard II

It is ordered by the steward that no-one shall play Quoits under a penalty of 12d.

Henry IV

It was ordered by all the community that all the community should make up the road called Wadenye which road is exceedingly harmful in its use for all for their passage, and has been viewed by John Gostwyke, William Rydere, John Bande and John Rydere. And the [illegible] of the said community is not necessary for making the said way for the servants and assigns of the aforesaid John Gostwyke and William Rydere and all given the [illegible] 40d to the lady and the church 40d from [illegible] with the agreement of the community.

It was ordered to all the tenants that no tenant [should] at any time [have] hounds within the demesne of the lady under a penalty of half a mark, [6s. 8d.] neither any dogs to go down the lady's Warren under a penalty of half a mark, [6s. 8d.].

It was ordered by all the tenants that no-one is to permit any colts to pass at large, that is to say, that they are to be penned with their mothers. So that [if] they are found to have been delinquent, they will be under a penalty of 6d.

Also it was ordered by the same that no-one is permitted to let their sheep, pigs or calves roam in the fields [torn edge] without custody, allowing them to trespass on to the herbage and corn of the neighbourhood, under penalties, if they should have been found delinquent, of 6d to the lady and 6d to the church.

Henry V

It was ordered by all the lord's tenants that everyone whatsoever who has any land in the common fields [illegible] is to make one drain on their land before the feast of St. Mark [the Evangelist, 25 April] next in the future, so that the waters do not overflow the said fields but have been put in their watercourses outside the said fields, and that the [said] fields are not blackened by the aforesaid defective watercourses, under a penalty of 12d.

Major Hayman Rooke was an eighteenth-century soldier, antiquarian, meteorologist, amateur artist and, by all accounts, an upright and affable character. He was also extraordinarily busy and spent much of his time out and about visiting friends and travelling, exploring traces of the past in the landscape, scrambling up rock faces to look at caves, or riding around estate plantations examining trees. Rooke recorded his many expeditions in more than 400 sketches and published his findings in a range of outlets including journals, books and pamphlets. Major Rooke's work on antiquarianism and natural history offers an opportunity to examine the interpretation of landscape during the eighteenth century; that is, some of the ways in which antiquarian study contributed to a sense of place and to broader political and social experiences and interpretations of landscape. This includes how landscapes were explained and understood – how antiquarian and natural historical practice functioned as a form of engagement with place. Locality was, of course, significant to antiquarian and natural history studies, given the place-specificity of their subjects; but this place-specific information was shared as well as contributing to a wider project of the discovery of a national landscape, meaning that eighteenthcentury communication networks played a significant role in the process of knowledge formation.

These questions can be approached through a study of both the theoretical and physical spaces of the eighteenth century, especially those in which Rooke was actively engaged. These can be seen as falling into three wide-ranging and interlinked spaces of investigation: regional study, spaces of exchange and spaces of practice. Regional study refers to the spatial or territorial loyalties of the antiquarian to a particular area, the role and influence of the county history as a mode of spatial definition and the relationship between antiquarianism, regional study and chorography – the impact of regional study on ideas of politics and identity, a sense of belonging in place. These were of course greatly affected by the personal mobility of antiquarians and natural historians like Rooke, and Rooke's own travels are discussed. The spaces of exchange – the networks of correspondence, publications and meetings through which ideas and artefacts travelled, and which contributed to the creation and reinforcement of antiquarian reputations – make it possible to trace the ways in which knowledge was created and negotiated.

ON 12 November 1930 Wood conducted a BBC Symphony Concert at Queen's Hall in which he presented all six Brandenburg Concertos, a feat that represents the zenith of his promotion of Bach:

Wood's success was acknowledged by the public and critics alike, the latter noting that ‘there was hardly anyone at Queen's Hall who did not stay spellbound all the time’, and ‘it is a long time since one has seen the press emerge from a concert hall at the close of a performance in so solid a body’. 1930 saw reinstated full cycles of the Brandenburg Concertos throughout the Proms season, and Wood's premiere recording of Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. However, 1930 also marked the beginning of a closer, but not exclusive, association with the BBCSO and a downturn in the reception of Wood's endeavours on behalf of the composer. The impact of his festival performances of the Passions and Mass in B minor had faded, so any potential legacy in Bach interpretation would lie in orchestral works.

Rosa Newmarch observed that a ‘Bach Cult’ with Wood at its centre had been growing since the mid-1920s,but throughout the 1930s others spoke of a tipping point with the public going ‘slightly mad in its devotion to Bach’. Some doubted the sincerity, the ‘genuineness and permanency’, of the movement, describing ‘cyclic ebullitions of enthusiasm more or less artificial, such as we are now witnessing on the special Bach nights at the “Proms”‘. Others challenged the quality of the repertoire, suggesting that the “works of Bach that fill Queen's Hall do not, in the main, represent him at his best’ and citing the Brandenburg Concertos as ‘examples of superficial Bach’. Expressing his scepticism towards the ‘discrimination’ of the Promenaders in 1939, Gordon Stubbs, of the Manchester University Music Department, noted a number of issues that he felt questioned the judgement of Bach audiences.

Glass beads are undoubtedly some of the most colourful and visually stunning archaeological objects surviving from the past. However, they are much more than just objects of display, and their enduring appeal is as much a reflection of their symbolic qualities as it is of their aesthetic charms. Glass is produced from quite ordinary ingredients (sand, lime, and soda), yet once combined and heated the mix transforms into a malleable substance which, when reheated, alters from a solid to a fluid state allowing it to be manipulated and worked into different shapes. By adding specific chemicals, the glass can be rendered translucent, opaque, or transparent, and produced in a range of colours. The inherent workability of glass permits a level of creativity that it would seem is checked only by the skill and imagination of the artisan. The result is a multitude of unique objects of exotic and ethereal colours combining decorative motifs of cables, trails, waves, dots, and ‘eyes’ interwoven into distinctive patterns and shapes. Furthermore, specific motifs unite to bring a dimension to beads far beyond their aesthetic appeal, and help underpin the widespread perception of specific bead types as talismans or amulets to ward off danger and offer protection.

As beads are highly visible and strikingly attractive, it is unsurprising that they were much prized as objects of adornment, and are included among the assemblages from a number of high-status settlements, such as the royal site of Lagore, Co. Meath. As part of funerary costumes they are found in burials of kings and nobles, as evidenced by the beaded collar found in the tomb of Tutankhamun. Items of personal attire can and do play an important part in the portrayal of individual identity, and can be a key factor in conveying the status, culture, and authority of the wearer. As portable objects, glass beads travel well. The evidence of imported glass beads in assemblages from broadly contemporary Irish sites suggests there was a positive appreciation of Anglo-Saxon and Continental beads among Ireland's native population. Over time, exposure to international beads influenced the types of beads worn in early medieval Ireland, as shown by the number and variety of imported beads that have been discovered, and beads fashionable in the neighbouring Anglo-Saxon world and on the Continent were incorporated into styles popular in Ireland at that time.