ABSTRACT

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.

chapter 2|23 pages

Policy enforcement during the Personal Rule of Charles I

The Perfect Militia, Book of Orders, and Ship Money

chapter 5|19 pages

‘Parliament’, ‘liberty’, ‘taxation’, and ‘property’

The civil war of words in the 1640s1

chapter 6|14 pages

A trader of knowledge and government

Richard Houncell and the politics of enterprise, 1648–51

chapter 7|21 pages

The uses of intelligence

The case of Lord Craven, 1650–60

chapter 9|17 pages

England’s ‘atheisticall generation’

Orthodoxy and unbelief in the revolutionary period

chapter 12|17 pages

The revolution of memory

The monuments of Westminster Abbey

chapter 13|17 pages

‘A pair of Garters’

Heralds and heraldry at the Restoration1