The Fall of Cromwell’s Republic and the Return of the King
The Fall of Cromwell’s Republic and the Return of the King

Author: Timothy Venning

Publisher: Pen and Sword History

Published: 2023-04-20

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 152678940X

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This book completes the series of studies of the 'British Revolution of the Three Kingdoms of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland' and covers the period from the fall of the 'failed state' and Protectorate in 1657 to the restoration of the Stuart monarchy and Charles II in 1660, examines the Restoration settlement in depth and a high point in Stuart pro-French and Catholic policy - contrary to the 1660 Restoration understanding when Charles II vowed reluctance 'go on {his} travels again' and follows the Stuart Restoration and pro-French - and pro-Catholic foreign policy to 1670. Cromwell's death had signaled the end of an overarching figure who held the failing state together and began England's nascent 'great power' foreign and 'colonial' policy. It covers Richard Cromwell's emergence and as a figure far from the 'Tumbledown Dick' of popular legend. Also, the remarkable role of General George Monck as the genial military man guiding the failing and chaotic state to Restoration and stability. Monck underpinned the gentry and merchant class as the root of state and society which outlived civil wars, military dictatorship, political chaos and Stuart monarchical rule.

Providence Lost
Providence Lost

Author: Paul Lay

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2020-01-09

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 178185257X

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'A compelling and wry narrative of one of the most intellectually thrilling eras of British history' Guardian. ***************** SHORTLISTED FOR THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2020 England, 1651. Oliver Cromwell has defeated his royalist opponents in two civil wars, executed the Stuart king Charles I, laid waste to Ireland, and crushed the late king's son and his Scottish allies. He is master of Britain and Ireland. But Parliament, divided between moderates, republicans and Puritans of uncompromisingly millenarian hue, is faction-ridden and disputatious. By the end of 1653, Cromwell has become 'Lord Protector'. Seeking dragons for an elect Protestant nation to slay, he launches an ambitious 'Western Design' against Spain's empire in the New World. When an amphibious assault on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1655 proves a disaster, a shaken Cromwell is convinced that God is punishing England for its sinfulness. But the imposition of the rule of the Major-Generals – bureaucrats with a penchant for closing alehouses – backfires spectacularly. Sectarianism and fundamentalism run riot. Radicals and royalists join together in conspiracy. The only way out seems to be a return to a Parliament presided over by a king. But will Cromwell accept the crown? Paul Lay narrates in entertaining but always rigorous fashion the story of England's first and only experiment with republican government: he brings the febrile world of Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate to life, providing vivid portraits of the extraordinary individuals who inhabited it and capturing its dissonant cacophony of political and religious voices. ***************** Reviews: 'Briskly paced and elegantly written, Providence Lost provides us with a first-class ticket to this Cromwellian world of achievement, paradox and contradiction. Few guides take us so directly, or so sympathetically, into the imaginative worlds of that tumultuous decade' John Adamson, The Times. 'Providence Lost is a learned, lucid, wry and compelling narrative of the 1650s as well as a sensitive portrayal of a man unravelled by providence' Jessie Childs, Guardian.

Kingdom Without a King
Kingdom Without a King

Author: Paul Lay

Publisher: Apollo

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 1781852561

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Paul Lay explores a year that fell within one of the least understood periods in British history – the Interregnum between the execution of Charles I and the restoration of Charles II – and reclaims it as one of the most politically exciting and culturally creative eras of European history. In 1657 popular political fervour was at its height, and new religious ideas and methods of government were being tested out. The poet John Milton held a government post (Secretary for Foreign Tongues), and the regime's concentration on military spending was transforming England into a nascent imperial power. Far from being the dreary Puritan society of royalist myth, the Interregnum was one of the most intellectually thrilling times in British history. This was the crucible in which modern British thought – inquiring, iconoclastic and creative – was forged, and it marked the foundation of modern British democracy: pluralistic, inclusive, and based on a people's charter to rule.

God's Englishman
God's Englishman

Author: Christopher Hill

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2019-08-08

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 147461406X

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The classic, bestselling biography of one of the most controversial figures in British history from 'One of the finest historians of the age' The Times Literary Supplement From Fenland farmer and humble backbencher to stalwart of the good old cause and the New Model Army, Oliver Cromwell became the key figure of the Commonwealth, and ultimately Lord Protector. In this fascinating and insightful biography, Christopher Hill reveals Cromwell's life from his beginnings in Huntingdonshire to his brutal end. Hill brings all his considerable knowledge of the period to bear on the relationships God's Englishman had with God and England, giving an unprecedented insight vital to understanding Cromwell.

The Milton Encyclopedia
The Milton Encyclopedia

Author: Thomas N. Corns

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 0300094442

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"A resource for the general reader, the student, and the scholar alike that provides easy access to a wealth of information to enhance the experience of reading the works of John Milton"--

The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown
The Restless Republic: Britain without a Crown

Author: Anna Keay

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

Published: 2022-03-03

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 0008282048

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THE SUNDAY TIMES HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 WINNER OF THE POL ROGER DUFF COOPER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE Eleven years when Britain had no king.

The End of Kings
The End of Kings

Author: William R. Everdell

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2000-04-15

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 9780226224824

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Written in clear, lively prose, The End of Kings traces the history of republican governments and the key figures that are united by the simple republican maxim: No man shall rule alone. Breathtaking in its scope, Everdell's book moves from the Hebrew Bible, Solon's Athens and Brutus's Rome to the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson and the Watergate proceedings during which Nixon resigned. Along the way, he carefully builds a definition of "republic" which distinguishes democratic republics from aristocratic ones for both history and political science. In a new foreword, Everdell addresses the impeachment trial of President Clinton and argues that impeachment was never meant to punish private crimes. Ultimately, Everdell's brilliant analysis helps us understand how examining the past can shed light on the present. "[An] energetic, aphoristic, wide-ranging book."—Marcus Cunliffe, Washington Post Book World "Ambitious in conception and presented in a clear and sprightly prose. . . . [This] excellent study . . . is the best statement of the republican faith since Alphonse Aulard's essays almost a century ago." —Choice "A book which ought to be in the hand of every American who agrees with Benjamin Franklin that the Founding Fathers gave us a Republic and hoped that we would be able to keep it."-Sam J. Ervin, Jr.

The English Civil Wars
The English Civil Wars

Author: Blair Worden

Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Published: 2009-11-19

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 0297857592

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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.