Introduction to Popular Control in Pre-modern Europe

This introduction to a special issue on popular control in pre-modern Europe reviews both the contemporary resonance of the term in an era of reviving populism, and the conceptual challenges it poses for historians of all periods. It reconsiders the problem of the "popular," the question of what constitutes effective control, and the relationship between collective and coordinated action. Briefly highlighting particular aspects of articles in the issue, it stresses above all the usefulness of thinking with concrete cases. Here those range from the late medieval Languedoc to eighteenth-century Germany via Castile, northern France, and England. Doing so helps us to see how popular control operated across a range of scales. It frequently developed from bottom-up political practice, often being articulated within a range of micro-sovereignties of different sorts. Here it remained volatile and plural within a set of shared but often contested norms. That volatility extended to those exercising popular control since they could pass into the ranks of those holding official powers just as, at other times, office-holders might equally be found amongst the ranks of those acting more informally.