Revolutionary England, c.1630-c.1660

Revolutionary England, c. 1630-c. 1660 presents a series of cutting-edge studies by established and rising authorities in the field, providing a powerful discourse on the events, crises and changes that electrified mid-seventeenth-century England. The descent into civil war, killing of a king, creation of a republic, fits of military government, written constitutions, dominance of Oliver Cromwell, abolition of a state church, eruption into major European conflicts, conquest of Scotland and Ireland, and efflorescence of powerfully articulated political thinking dazzled, bewildered or appalled contemporaries, and has fascinated scholars ever since. Compiled in honour of one of the most respected scholars of early modern England, Clive Holmes, this volume considers themes that both reflect Clive's own concerns and stand at the centre of current approaches to seventeenth-century studies: the relations between language, ideas, and political actors; the limitations of central government; and the powerful role of religious belief in public affairs. Centred chronologically on Clive Holmes' seventeenth-century heartland, this is a focused volume of essays produced by leading scholars inspired by his scholarship and teaching. Investigative and analytical, it is valuable reading for all scholars of England's revolutionary period.

George Southcombe is Director of the Sarah Lawrence Programme at Wadham College, Oxford, where he is also College Lecturer in History. His publications include English Nonconformist Poetry, 1660-1700 (editor, 3 volumes, 2012) and Restoration Politics, Religion and Culture: Britain and Ireland, 1660-1714 (2010, with Grant Tapsell). Grant Tapsell is Fellow and Tutor in History, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. His publications include The Nature of the English Revolution Revisited (edited with Stephen Taylor, 2013); The Later Stuart Church, 1660-1714 (editor, 2012) and The Personal Rule of Charles II, 1681-85 (2007).

List of Figures Acknowledgements Abbreviations Notes on contributors 1. Clive Holmes and the historiography of early modern England: The quiet revolution 2. Policy enforcement during the Personal Rule of Charles I: The Perfect Militia, Book of Orders, and Ship Money 3. Party politics in the Long Parliament, 1640-8 4. Henry Ireton and the limits of radicalism, 1647-9 5. 'Parliament', 'liberty', 'taxation', and 'property': The civil war of words in the 1640s 6. A trader of knowledge and government: Richard Houncell and the politics of enterprise, 1648-51 7. The uses of intelligence: The case of Lord Craven, 1650-60 8. The definition of treason and the offer of the crown 9. England's 'atheisticall generation': Orthodoxy and unbelief in the revolutionary period 10. Thomas Ady and the politics of scepticism in Cromwellian England 11. The demand for a free parliament, 1659-60 12. The revolution of memory: The monuments of Westminster Abbey 13. 'A pair of garters': Heralds and heraldry at the Restoration 14. Remembering regicides in America, 1660-1800 Bibliography of the Writings of Clive Holmes, 1967-2014 Index