2006: Recent historiographical trends of the British Studies
Rediscovering radicalism in the British Isles and Ireland in the Sixteenth and S

‘Pym’s junto’ in the ante-bellum Long Parliament: radical or not?

Published 2006-07-01

Abstract

When historians discuss the Long Parliament they frequently refer to a hazy and often ill-defined collection of individuals invariably centred around the figure of John Pym.  This assemblage is variously referred to as 'Pym's group', 'Pym and his allies', or 'Pym and his supporters'.  Probably the most common appellation has become 'Pym's junto', or more often simply the 'junto'.  Over the years this junto has assumed a variety of historiographical guises and its role within the Long Parliament has been the subject of some debate.  This paper will first briefly sketch this historiography and then go on to discuss the radicalism of the junto in the first twelve months of the Long Parliament.