Introduction

There has seldom been a more propitious scholarly environment for a major new study of Edward Hyde, first Earl of Clarendon. Interest in royalists and royalism has risen appreciably in the last twenty years, evidenced in a range of studies exploring such themes as royalist political theory, exile, women, literature and drama. The pendulum needed to swing. This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analyses several features of Clarendon's life: his role as political propagandist; family and friendship networks; religious and philosophical inclinations; history-composition; his influence on other forms of writing; and the personal, political and literary repercussions of two exiles. Much of the recent outpouring of publications on royalists and royalism has been the valuable work of cultural historians, literary experts and historians of ideas, or has consisted of potted biographies.