Practising state consolidation in early modern England and Wales

This paper examines the consolidation of state power that took place in England and Wales during the early modern period. The paper focuses in particular on the way in which state consolidation impacted upon the particular locality of north Wales. Drawing on Foucault’s notion of governmentality, the paper seeks to illustrate the contingent nature of state consolidation in England and Wales as state agents in the various localities inflected the development of state forms. As such, the paper emphasises the tangled and contested means by which the English state sought to reach out and govern its citizens and territory in an effective manner. It is argued that the consensual approach adopted towards state consolidation in England and Wales, with the stress placed on collaborating with lesser gentry in the localities, created potential costs and benefits for the extension of state power in north Wales. Although the lesser gentry could modify and contest state directives, they also possessed the ability to tailor the demands of national institutions to meet local needs. In conclusion, the paper argues that it is in this negotiation between the central state and its agents in various localities that we witness the unfolding character of early modern state formation.