Professor Michael Braddick

B.A., Ph.D. (Cantab.)

Department of History

Professor of History

Director, Global Humanities Initiative

Michael Braddick
Profile picture of Michael Braddick
m.braddick@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 9701

Full contact details

Professor Michael Braddick
Department of History
Jessop West
1 Upper Hanover Street
Sheffield
S3 7RA
Profile

I was educated at Cambridge University where I took both my B.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Before coming to Sheffield in 1990 I was Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama and Assistant Professor at Birmingham-Southern College, Alabama.

I have held fellowships from the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation and a Major Research Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust.

I have also held visiting scholarships at the Huntington Library, California, the Max Planck Institute for European Legal History in Frankfurt, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, and an ARC distinguished visiting fellowship at the University of Adelaide.

I am the author of five books and around 50 chapters and articles, dealing with aspects of state formation, the English revolution and forms of political engagement and agency in early modern England, Ireland and the British Atlantic.

I am also editor or co-editor of nine essay collections, three special editions of academic journals and of an edition of seventeenth century letters.

My most recent publications are:

From 2016-19 I was director of the Sheffield Global Humanities Initiative, and was previously Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

Research interests

My research and teaching interests are in early modern state formation and political culture; popular politics; the English revolution; the early modern British Atlantic and the first stages of British imperial expansion; and early modern political economy, in particular attitudes towards the commercialisation of the grain trade.

I am currently working on the issue of political agency, and have a book in press consider the long-run history of political life on Britain from this perspective. This relates to a Leverhulme-funded interdisciplinary international network project on the ‘Comparative history of political engagement’, in which I was the Principal Investigator.  I am currently involved in a number of international collaborations, including projects concerned with the comparative histories of civil war and revolution and a long-standing interest in the politics of food supply over the long-run.

Publications

Books

  • Braddick M (2018) The Common Freedom of the People John Lilburne and the English Revolution. Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2008) God's Fury, England's Fire: A new history of the English civil wars. London: Allen Lane. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2000) State Formation in Early Modern England, c.1550–1700. Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download

Edited books

  • Braddick MJ & Withington P (Ed.) (2017) Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland: Essays in Honour of John Walter. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M & Innes J (Ed.) (2017) Suffering and happiness in England 1550-1850: narratives and representation. A collection to honour Paul Slack. Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (Ed.) (2017) Seventeenth-century journalism in the digital age.. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (Ed.) (2015) The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M & Smith D (Ed.) (2011) The experience of revolution in Stuart Britain and Ireland: Essays for John Morrill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ & Smith DL (Ed.) (2011) The experience of revolution in Stuart Britain and Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (Ed.) (2009) The Politics of Gesture: HIstorical Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Braddick M (2022) ‘Crise politique et innovation linguistique dans L’Angleterre revolutionnaire (1640-1660)’, In foa J & deleurmoz Q (Ed.), Les épreuves de la guerre civile (pp. 37-55). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2021) The historical sociology of politics as the study of people, power, and agency, Bringing the People Back In: State Building from Below in the Nordic Countries ca. 1500-1800 (pp. 23-36). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2021) Droit et autorité politique dans leur contexte social, Raison administrative et logiques d’empire (xvie-xixe siècle) (pp. 85-93). Publications de l’École française de Rome RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2019) Case of Ship-Money (R v Hampden) (1637): Prerogatival discretion in emergency conditions In snape J & de Cogan D (Ed.), Landmark Cases in Revenue Law (pp. 27-47). Bloomsbury Publishing RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2019) Christopher Brooks's Contribution to Early Modern History, LAW, LAWYERS AND LITIGANTS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND (pp. 11-31). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ & Withington P (2017) Introduction, Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland (pp. 1-14). Boydell and Brewer RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2017) 12 John Lilburne and political agency in revolutionary England, Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland (pp. 223-242). Boydell and Brewer RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2017) John Lilburne and political agency in revolutionary England In Braddick M & Withington P (Ed.), Popular Culture and Political Agency in Early Modern England and Ireland: Essays in Honour of John Walter (pp. 223-242). Boydell Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2017) The sufferings of John Lilburne In Innes J & Braddick M (Ed.), Suffering and happiness in England 1550-1850: narratives and representation. A collection to honour Paul Slack (pp. 111-126). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2016) Political Revolutions In Broomhall S (Ed.), Early Modern Emotions An Introduction (pp. 185-188). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2016) Face, légitimaté et identité partisane dans la négociation du pouvoir de l’État en Angleterre (1558-1660) In Hermant H (Ed.), Le pouvoir contourné infléchir et subvertir l'autorité à l'âge moderne (pp. 193-221). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2016) Public office and private benefit in early modern England In Braddick M, Garavaglia JC & Lamouroux C (Ed.), Serve the power(s), serve the State: America and Eurasia (pp. 198-221). Cambridge Scholar Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2015) War and politics in England and Wales 1642-1646 In Braddick MJ (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution (pp. 96-113). Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2015) Civil war and revolution in England, Scotland and Ireland In Braddick MJ (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution (pp. 3-20). Oxford: Oxford University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2015) 16 Afterword, Spoken Word and Social Practice (pp. 446-462). BRILL RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2013) Prayer book and protestation: Anti-popery, anti-puritanism and the outbreak of the english civil war, England's Wars of Religion, Revisited (pp. 125-146). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2012) Loyauté partisane durant la Guerre Civile et histoire des relations sociales en Angleterre, S'exprimer en temps de troubles (pp. 95-114). Presses universitaires de Rennes RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ & Smith DL (2011) Preface In Braddick M & Smith D (Ed.), The Experience of Revolution in Stuart Britain and Ireland (pp. xvii-xxvi). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2011) England and Wales, The Oxford History of Popular Print Culture (pp. 17-30). Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2011) Prayer book and protestation: Anti-popery, anti-puritanism and the outbreak of the english civil war, England's Wars of Religion, Revisited (pp. 125-145). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2011) History, Liberty, Reformation and the Cause: Parliamentarian military and ideological escalation in 1643, The Experience of Revolution in Stuart Britain and Ireland (pp. 117-134). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ & Smith DL (2011) Introduction: John Morrill and the experience of revolution In Braddick MJ & Smith DL (Ed.), The Experience of Revolution in Stuart Britain and Ireland (pp. 1-13). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Gambardella A & Zollo M (2009) Editors' Introduction (pp. 1-4). Wiley RIS download Bibtex download
  • Armitage D & Braddick MJ (2009) Introduction, The British Atlantic World, 1500–1800 (pp. 1-9). Macmillan Education UK RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2009) Civility and Authority, The British Atlantic World, 1500–1800 (pp. 113-132). Macmillan Education UK RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick M (2008) Mobilisation, Anxiety and Creativity in England during the 1640s In Morrow J & Scott J (Ed.), Liberty, Authority, Formality: Political Ideas and Culture, 1600-1900 (pp. 175-193). Exeter: Imprint Academic. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ (2001) Administrative performance: the representation of political authority in early modern England, Negotiating Power in Early Modern Society (pp. 166-187). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ & Walter J (2001) Introduction. Grids of power: order, hierarchy and subordination in early modern society, Negotiating Power in Early Modern Society (pp. 1-42). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Braddick MJ () The Rise of the Fiscal State, A Companion to Stuart Britain (pp. 67-87). Blackwell Publishers Ltd RIS download Bibtex download

Conference proceedings papers

  • Braddick MJ & Smith DL () Preface (pp xi-xiii) RIS download Bibtex download

Preprints

Research group

Research supervision

I am keen to supervise graduate students with interests in early modern state formation and political culture; popular politics; the English revolution; the early modern British Atlantic and the first stages of British imperial expansion; and early modern political economy, in particular attitudes towards the commercialisation of the grain trade. I particularly welcome applications from those interested in the social, cultural and political history of early modern England.

Current Students

Secondary Supervisor

Most recently completed students 
  • Michael Bennett - Merchant Capital and the Origins of the Barbados Sugar Boom, 1627-1671.
  • Alexander Hitchman - They themselves will be the Judges what commands are lawfull': Legal pamphlets and political mobilisation in the early 1640s.
  • Richard Scott - Dreams and Passions in Revolutionary England.
  • James Mawdesley (second supervisor) - Clerical Politics in Lancashire and Cheshire during the Reign of Charles I, 1625-1649.

Find out more about PhD study in History

Teaching activities

Undergraduate:

  • HST31028 - The English People and the English revolution
  • HST3306 - A Comparative History of Revolution
  • HST255 - Social Crisis and Political Change in Early Modern England
  • HST120 - History Workshop
  • HST115 - The Disenchantment of Early Modern Europe

Postgraduate: 

  • HST694 - Revolutionary England, 1640-1660: Politics, Culture and Society
Professional activities and memberships

I regularly serve on committees or act as peer reviewer, advisor or referee for publishers, research funders and other Universities both in the UK and internationally.

Administrative roles:

I have in the past carried out a number of major administrative roles within the Department, particularly in relation to Undergraduate Admissions (including Senior Admissions Tutor and Tutor for Mature Applications), examinations and assessment, and as Chair of Teaching Committee. In the latter capacity I took a leading role in establishing new mechanisms of Teaching Quality assurance in the Department, and subsequently led the Department's very successful response to two Audits of Teaching Quality. I was Head of Department in 2008-9 and was Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Arts and Humanities from 2009 to 2013, and Director  of the Global Humanities Initiative from 2016-19.

Public engagement

I am a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement and have in the past written for BBC History and Teaching History. I have advised on a number of radio and TV programmes and regularly speak to non-academic audiences, including local literary societies, 6th form conferences and talks. I recently co-curated (with Paul Evans) a collaboration between artists and academics from a variety of science, engineering, social science and arts disciplines thinkaboutbees.org. In the autumn of 2017 curated a strand of events in Sheffield Literary Festival on the theme of radicalism http://offtheshelf.org.uk​​​​​​​