This book provides the first critical overview of the new social history of politics in early modern England. It examines the shifting place of popular politics within the polity, focusing in particular on collective disorder. Rebellions and riots are examined alongside the deeper political cultures of the commons of Tudor and Stuart England. Attention is given to enclosure and food riots; seditious speech; elite perceptions of plebeian politics; ritual, gender and the forms of popular protest; literacy and the impact of print.