Professor Michael Braddick
Senior Research Fellow
All Souls College
My research centres on early modern English and British history, particularly the intersection of economic, social and political history. I am especially interested in the history of state formation, revolution and political economy, and their relationship to popular politics and political agency. This has led me to write on the history of state formation, the British Atlantic world, and the origins of the British empire, as well as more directly on issues of popular political agency. My most recent book is a study of Christopher Hill, one of the leading historians of the post war period, whose work has shaped the way we discuss the course and significance of the English revolution. I am now working on a book on the 1650s, the only period of republican government in the post-Roman history of Britain, which emphasises its importance for the development of the modern British state, its empire and the remarkable intellectual creativity of that decade. I am also principal investigator on a research project exploring 'The politics of the English grain trade, 1315-1815', funded by the AHRC. This relates to my interests in political economy and popular politics.
Research Interests
- History of early modern British state formation, revolution and empire
- History of the political economy of grain and bread
- History of popular politics
My published work includes books on The nerves of state: taxation and the financing of the English state, 1558-1714 (Manchester, 1996), State formation in early modern England (Cambridge, 2000), God's Fury, England's Fire: a new history of the civil wars (London, 2008), The common freedom of the people: John Lilburne and the English revolution (Oxford, 2018), A useful history of Britain (Oxford, 2022) and Christopher Hill: the life of a radical historian (London, 2025). I have also edited or co-edited a number of books, including (with John Walter), Negotiating power: order, hierarchy and subordination in early modern England and Ireland (Cambridge, 2000), (with David Armitage), The British Atlantic World, 1500-1800 (London, 2002 and 2009), The politics of gesture (2009), The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution (Oxford, 2017) and (with Phil Withington), Popular culture and political agency in early modern England and Ireland (Woodbridge, 2017).
I am currently PI on an AHRC-funded project, 'The Politics of the English grain trade, 1315-1815'.
I am a Fellow of the British Academy, a series editor of Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History and serve on the editorial board of Past and Present.
