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Jack David Sargeant

Jack's primary research interest is the political culture of seventeenth-century Britain, with his thesis focusing specifically on the performative and aesthetic aspects of politics in the English Revolution (1642-49). He is interested in the ways in which ritual and textual artefacts are complicit in the production of authority, and the techniques employed by elite political actors to legitimise action when established structures of authority collapse. At the same time, Jack seeks to investigate how the materiality of early modern political communication could be productive of popular agency, enabling ordinary people to influence political and military realities in ways that elites struggled to control. His research takes place through the close study of England’s urban centres and their political spaces, and draws upon an array of primary material ranging from the papers of the secretary of state to political pamphlets and the proceedings of civic corporations. 

PhD

Supervisor: Jason Peacey
Working title: 'The aesthetics of politics in the English Revolution'
Expected completion date: 2021

Scholarships and prizes

Awarded an AHRC London Arts and Humanities Partnership research studentship (2017-2020).

Publications

Sargeant, J. D., ‘Parliament and the crown jewels in the English Revolution, 1641–1644’,
Historical Journal, 63:4 (2020), pp. 811–35. 

Sargeant, J. D., ‘Publicity, authority and legal radicalism at John Lilburne’s treason trial, 1649’,
 Historical Research, 93:262 (2020), pp. 661–77. 

Sargeant, J. D., ‘Official communication and political innovation in the English Revolution’, in
M. Pennacchia and I. Plescia (eds.), Enter the Crowd: Mass Communication In Early Modern England (Florence, forthcoming).
 

Conference papers and presentations

'Blasphemy in the market square: the aesthetics of allegiance in the English Revolution'. History Lab Annual ConferenceInstitute of Historical Research, London, June 2018.

‘Publicity, authority and legal radicalism at John Lilburne’s treason trial, 1649’, British History in the 17th Century Seminar, Institute of Historical Research (IHR), London, February 2020. (Invited).

‘Official communication and political innovation in the English Revolution’, IASEMS Graduate Conference, British Institute of Florence, Italy, April 2019.

Teaching 2018-19 (postgraduate teaching assistant)

Writing History