Blair Worden

Nothing in English history has so imprinted itself on the nation's memory as the upheavals of the mid-seventeenth century. And nothing has so divided posterity. This short book provides a crisp and lucid narrative of the complicated events of 1640 to 1660 - not just the war between King and Parliament of 1642-46 but the second civil war, the execution of King Charles I, the Commonwealth and the rule of Cromwell, and finally the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. But it also gets behind the preoccupations of later generations and explains what contemporaries on both sides thought they were fighting for and against. Many factors played a part in these wars: the European conflicts of the time; the wars in Scotland and Ireland from which the English conflict emerged; constitutional tussles from the Tudor period; ideas of liberty and reform; the new powers of taxation acquired by parliamentarians; and the collapse of political censorship during the wars. Through it all there ran the conflict of religion. This wonderfully readable and well-informed account stresses the unpredictability not only of the military outcomes but also of the longer-term results. As the author notes, 'There is no better illustration of the law of unintended consequences than the English civil wars.'

The English Civil Wars, 1640-1660

A brilliant appraisal of the Civil War and its long-term consequences, by an acclaimed historian. The political upheaval of the mid-seventeenth century has no parallel in English history. Other events have changed the occupancy and the powers of the throne, but the conflict of 1640-60 was more dramatic: the monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished, to be replaced by a republic and military rule. In this wonderfully readable account, Blair Worden explores the events of this period and their origins - the war between King and Parliament, the execution of Charles I, Cromwell's rule and the Restoration - while aiming to reveal something more elusive: the motivations of contemporaries on both sides and the concerns of later generations.

1640-1660

The English Civil Wars

A detailed study of the religious and political character of the most revolutionary decade of English history, from the execution of Charles I in 1649 to the return of his son in 1660. Explores the minds and conduct of the dominant figure of the era, Oliver Cromwell, and his friends and enemies.

Political Conduct in the England of Oliver Cromwell

God's Instruments

Hugh Trevor-Roper was one of the most gifted historians of the twentieth century. His scholarly interests ranged widely - from the Puritan Revolution to the Scottish Enlightenment. Yet he was also fascinated by the events of his own lifetime and wrote widely on issues of espionage and intelligence, as well as maintaining a fascination with the workings - and personalities - of Nazi Germany. In this volume, a variety of contributors - many of whom knew Trevor-Roper personally - engage with his scholarship and analyse his greatest achievements as an historian. Covering the full range of Trevor-Roper's interests, this volume will be essential for anyone who wishes to better understand this great historian and his work.

The Historian

Hugh Trevor-Roper

William Worden

Blair Worden reconstructs the dramatic events amidst which the Arcadia was composed and shows for the first time how profound is their presence in it. The Queen's failure to resist the Catholic advance at home and abroad, and her apparent resolve to marry the Catholic heir to the French throne, seemed likely to bring tyranny and persecution to England.

Philip Sidney's Arcadia and Elizabethan Politics

The Sound of Virtue

The Rump Parliament was brought to power in 1648 by Pride's Purge and forcibly dissolved by Oliver Cromwell in 1653. This book is a detailed account of the intervening years. Dr Worden concentrates particularly on the Rump's policies in the contentious fields of legal, religious and electoral reform; its attempts to live down its revolutionary origins, to disown its more radical supporters, to conciliate those Puritans alienated by the purge and the King's death, and to re-create the Roundhead party of the 1640s. He examines the Rump's struggles for survival in the face of the Royalist threat between 1649 and 1651, and its fatal quarrel with the Cromwellian army thereafter. A concluding chapter deals with the Rump's forcible dissolution. This novel and challenging interpretation of the most dramatic phase of the English Revolution will interest all specialists in seventeenth-century political and constitutional history.

Blair Worden

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