Dark Markets Observatory
Smugglers. Corrupt officials. Dark markets in public goods and contraband. My research reconstructs the history of clandestine markets in early modern England and its empire.
Fountains Hall, Yorkshire
Built by Sir Stephen Proctor
Visit Fountains Abbey where Proctor built his stately manor.
Corruption in Early Modern England
My forthcoming book project The Invisible Handshake: Discovering Corruption in the Early Modern State (under contract with Oxford University Press) follows the career of an early seventeenth century corruption hunter, Sir Stephen Proctor (1562-1619) and the conspiracy that eventually destroyed him.
A story of corruption and conspiracy, ambition and violence, the book reveals the limits of reform in the early modern state, and the growing influence of anxieties about corruption. This timely study examines the corrosive effect of charges of corruption on political polarization and stability.
The Early Modern Smugglers' World
Using machine learning and visualization technologies, my research is reconstructing contraband networks in early modern Britain
My research on early modern smuggling reconstructs contraband networks around the British Isles and the Atlantic.
I explore the political economy of smuggling: why states tolerated contraband, why there was often a business case for merchants to engage in trafficking, and why some jurisdictions specialized as waypoints for those avoiding taxes. Many of these same places remain tax havens today.
My research on brandy smuggling is now available at the historical journal Past & Present.
