Abstract

Political coalitions and their interaction with the Crown were central to political dynamics in England from 1660 to 1715. This paper introduces a new database of political affiliations of Members of Parliament (MPs), compiled from contemporary parliamentary lists, from 1660 to 1690. It uses the database to construct a measure of the majority Court or Opposition coalition in the House of Commons. It shows the majority coalition became increasingly cohesive during this period. It then uses the database to produce similar measures of majority coalition strength across constituencies to study the evolution of constituency support for coalitions from 1660 to 1715. The main findings suggest the Glorious Revolution of 1688 led to a significant break in constituency support for political groups. An analysis of constituency coalition preferences during periods of polarization like the Exclusion Crisis (1679–1681) shows constituency support pre-1688 was in part shaped in the absence of general elections and that Dissenters were an important base for the first Whigs in 1679.

摘要

政治联盟及其与王室的互动是 1660 年至 1715 年英格兰政治动态的核心。本文介绍了一个新的国会议员 (MPs) 政治派别数据库，该数据库由 1660 年至 1690 年的当代议会名单汇编而成。它使用该数据库用于构建下议院多数法院或反对派联盟的衡量标准。这表明多数联盟在此期间变得越来越有凝聚力。然后，它使用数据库生成跨选区的多数联盟力量的类似度量，以研究从 1660 年到 1715 年的选区支持联盟的演变。主要发现表明 1688 年的光荣革命导致选区对政治团体的支持出现重大突破。