Books About the English Civil War
June 7, 2006 11:17 AM   Subscribe

I'm looking for a good, reasonably comprehensive history of the English Civil War and the subsequent Cromwellian regime.

I have reasonable knowledge of this period, but much is taken from sources pieced together. I'm working on a project that has roots in the mid 17th century and have found, at least on the side of the Atlantic, far more information regarding the Restoration period than that which preceded it.
posted by thivaia to Society & Culture (12 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Heres' a few to get you going:
Hill, Christopher - The Century of Revolution 1603 - 1714
Kishlansky, Mark - A Monarchy Transformed - Britain 1603 - 1714
Coward, Barry - The Stuart Age , England 1603 - 1714
Price, Jacob M - Perry of London - A family and a firm on the Seabourne frontier 1615 - 1753
Underdown, David Revel, Riot + Rebellion - Popular Politics and Culture in England 1603 - 1660
Woolrych, austin - Britain in Revolution 1625 - 1660
Wrightson, Keith English society 1580 - 1680
Barry, The Tudor + Stuart Town 1530 - 1688

Most of these (all?) have decent bibligraphies to lead you further. I also have some interesting journal papers etc if you want to take this to email. I am not a scholar but this period with some specialisation has been an interest for many years.
posted by adamvasco at 11:56 AM on June 7, 2006 [1 favorite]


And a couple more
Hirst, Derek - England in conflict 1603 - 1660, Kingdom, Community, Commonwealth
Royle, Trevor - Civil Wa; The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638 - 1660
posted by adamvasco at 12:10 PM on June 7, 2006 [1 favorite]


Simon Schama's A History of Britain: British Wars, 1603-1776. Not just about the Civil War, but still goes into a lot of detail about it. Probably gives a more 'holistic' view, in that the Civil War, timewise, occupies about the middle third of the narrative. Very readable, and very interesting.

The other volumes in the series are good too, as are all of Schama's other books.
posted by veedubya at 12:49 PM on June 7, 2006


Not academic by any stretch but an entertaining fictional read about that period would be Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (appx 3000 pages).

Set around the world (mostly in England) from about 1640 to 1714. More fun than anyone should have with about 15 pound of trade paperback.
posted by sourwookie at 1:01 PM on June 7, 2006


The first book of the Baroque Cycle is almost all after the Restoration. So unless they go back in time in the part I haven't read yet, it's not about the Protectorate.
posted by grouse at 1:26 PM on June 7, 2006


I specialised in this period at the end of my degree so have a few more suggestions you could follow up. The best overall summary is by Austin Woolrych and is called Britain in Revolution. If I had to pick one book, I'd go for this. For more detailed works see below...

Civil Wars

One name dominates recent scholarship - John Morrill. Try:

The Nature of the English Revolution - Morrill and Bradshaw. Collected essays.
The British Problem 1534-1707 - Morrill. About the British context to the English wars (remember there was more than one civil war in more than one country).

For other debate you could try:

The English Civil War: The Essential Readings - Peter Gaunt. Summarises the debate and reproduces key articles.

You might also want to try a book that is about to come out in July, The Noble Revolt by John Adamson. We have been waiting about 15 years for this controversial book, which takes Adamson's previous thesis and articles and sets out an argument that the aristocracy played a far greater role in the origins of the war than has been thought. He has been accused of plagiarism and distorting evidence (there was a great spat with Mark Kishlansky in the Historical Journal over this). Worth a look if only for the reaction it will no doubt cause.

Commonwealth and Protectorate


Cromwell dominates this period, obviously, so you could try looking at works on him as a starting point.

Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution - ed. John Morrill. A collection of essays, and a pseudo-biography, but you will not find a better study of the man and the Protectorate (until whenever Blair Worden's purported biography comes out).

On the Commonwealth and Barebone's Parliament, try:

Commonwealth to Protectorate - Woolrych.

Finally, I cannot let an AskMe question on this period go by without mentioning the work of Blair Worden, which was one of my big inspirations to study this period. Two articles that are mind-blowing once you have a detailed knowledge of the period are:

Providence and politics in Cromwellian England, in Past and Present 109 (1985)
Oliver Cromwell and the sin of Achan, in Beales and Best (eds), History, society and the churches - about the providential roots for Cromwell's refusal to become king.

Apologies for length and detail but this period is one of my obsessions - hopefully this will prove useful for any follow-up or for others coming across the thread later on.
posted by greycap at 2:17 PM on June 7, 2006 [2 favorites]


greycap blew up and got roundheads all over me
posted by sourwookie at 2:29 PM on June 7, 2006


Apologies for length and detail

Are you nuts? Flagged as excellent, and I'm looking forward to investigating your suggestions. (I'm following Pepys' Diary, so I'm quite interested in the preceding period.)
posted by languagehat at 3:52 PM on June 7, 2006


Response by poster: Wow. No apologies necessary for any of this. You guys are awesome.
posted by thivaia at 4:18 PM on June 7, 2006


languagehat and others - thanks for the vote of confidence. You would probably also enjoy another Worden article on the poetry of the period:

Andrew Marvell, Oliver Cromwell, and the Horatian Ode, in Politics of Discourse: The Literature and History of Seventeenth-century England - (eds) Kevin Sharpe and Steven Zwicker. This is an "interlinear" reading of Marvell's Horatian Ode that says a lot about the politics of the time.
posted by greycap at 11:29 PM on June 7, 2006


There are so many books on this period that it is difficult to pick the 'best', but here are a few of my personal favourites:

Mark Kishlansky, A Monarchy Transformed: Britain 1603-1714 is an excellent survey of the period; ideal if you want a general introduction that is scholarly but not too densely packed with footnotes.

John Morrill, The Nature of the English Revolution is one of the most stimulating histories of this period that I know. It may not be exactly what you're looking for, as it's a collection of essays on various topics, rather than a narrative history of the Civil War. But it gives you a wonderful insight into how historians go about their work -- how they ask questions, how they tackle problems, how they share ideas.

Morrill's Revolt in the Provinces (not to be confused with its predecessor, Revolt OF the Provinces) is another excellent history of the Civil War. One of the key insights of Morrill's early work was that most people in England didn't want a civil war; so the question posed in this book is "if most people didn't want it, how did it happen?"

(Small correction to greycap's comment above: The British Problem is by Morrill and Bradshaw; The Nature of the English Revolution is by Morrill alone.)

Another favourite of mine is David Underdown, Fire From Heaven, which looks at the war as it affected one English town (Dorchester) -- a useful correction to some of the political histories of the Civil War which focus on what was going on in London and Westminster.

If you're looking for something brand-new, try Mark Stoyle, Soldiers and Strangers, which came out last year, or Diane Purkiss, The English Civil War, which came out only a month or two ago. Stoyle offers an 'ethnic' history of the war (how it affected English national identity, etc), Purkiss offers a 'people's history' focusing on the experiences of ordinary people. (I haven't read either of them yet, so I can't comment. However, I should stress that scholarly research in this field has been moving very fast over the last few decades, so it's important to pick something that's reasonably up to date.)
posted by verstegan at 3:21 AM on June 8, 2006 [1 favorite]


Perhaps a little off your request, but you might try Reflections on the Puritan Revolution by A.L.Rowse. Mostly about deliberate destruction of art work and general joie de vivre, done up in his inimitable cranky style.
posted by IndigoJones at 6:11 AM on June 8, 2006


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