County History and Civil War: Sir Philip Mainwaring, William Dugdale, and the Attempt to Publish a History of Cheshire in the 1650s

In 1659 Sir Philip Mainwaring, great-uncle to Thomas Mainwaring of Baddiley and Peover, proposed that the eminent antiquarian William Dugdale write a county history of Cheshire along the lines of his successful publication of Warwickshire. This article explores the ways in which this proposal reflected the interests and concerns of Mainwaring, his relatives and wider circle during the troubled 1640s and 1650s. Those who regarded themselves as the rightful governors of the county had been profoundly disturbed by a series of challenges to their status and authority during the civil war and its aftermath. The projected county history, intended to be richly illustrated with engravings of coats of arms and funeral monuments, would have emphasised the elite families' claim to be the county's legitimate governors