The English Civil War: A People’s History

The English Civil War: A People’s History
Diane Purkiss

A remarkable popular history of the English Civil War, from the perspectives of those involved in this most significant turning point in British history.This compelling history, culminating in the execution of Charles I, brings to life the people who fought in it, died in it, and in doing so changed the history of the world forever. In an excitingly fresh approach to the period Diane Purkiss tells the story of this critical era not just in terms of the battle of ideas, but as the histories of the people who conceived them.‘The English Civil War’ builds a gripping narrative of the individuals involved and their motives, from those whose reputations were made on the back of this violent and brutal war, such as Oliver Cromwell and Lady Eleanor Davies, to witchfinders and revolutionaries; and ultimately, the ordinary men who fought and the women who lived with tragedy, finding their political voice for the first time. The consequences of ten years of bloody revolution were to stretch from the cities to the villages to the grand houses, form Ulster to East Anglia to the outer reaches of Cornwall. The tales uncovered by Diane Purkiss paint a picture of a world turned upside down, where madness and prophesy play their part, and where normal life and times are suspended.This important book uncovers forgotten lives and illustrates incisively the critical contribution of this extraordinary period in English history to contemporary politics and society.

The English Civil War

A People’s History

Diane Purkiss

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u6d5a3a56-32ea-546e-9e49-6e5ef8862668)

Title Page (#ube3b76f9-c7be-5c7c-9220-b59f0ec681bd)

Maps (#u082730c1-813b-5751-aee7-26737242585a)

An Epistle to the Gentle Reader (#ue9f3bd2c-4ae0-5008-93fc-a75baca08a62)

I The Last Cavalier? (#u78bfc899-1ecd-5ebb-b7be-ff027023d7c0)

II The Meek-Eyed Peace (#u292a0678-6cb2-5e1e-86aa-5408739b7cd4)

III Two Women: Anna Trapnel and Lucy Hay (#uf5a43b0f-e07e-5cd8-9eed-1d6e1af2172e)

IV The Bishops’ Wars, the Three Kingdoms, and Montrose (#ue90a94ae-0875-56c2-98bd-6eaf3579e1d5)

V Pym against the Papists (#ua1a87310-da5e-53f8-ab8e-11ed4b7c502e)

VI Stand Up, Shout Mars (#u45fefc6b-6729-5499-a063-798eb0fc61d0)

VII The Valley of Decision (#ubf5d1632-88d3-5e2a-90ef-3320cd88ac6d)

VIII Bright-Harnessed Angels: Edgehill (#litres_trial_promo)

IX Down with Bishops and Bells: Iconoclasm (#litres_trial_promo)

X The Death of Dreams (#litres_trial_promo)

XI The War over Christmas (#litres_trial_promo)

XII The Queen’s Tale: Henrietta Maria (#litres_trial_promo)

XIII Newbury Fight (#litres_trial_promo)

XIV Two Capitals: Oxford and London (#litres_trial_promo)

XV The Bitterness of War (#litres_trial_promo)

XVI Two Marriages (#litres_trial_promo)

XVII The Power of Heaven: Marston Moor and Cromwell (#litres_trial_promo)

XVIII The Cookery Writers’ Tales: General Hunger, Hannah Wolley, Kenelm Digby and the Deer of Corse Lawn (#litres_trial_promo)

XIX Twenty Thousand Cornish Boys: The Battle of Lostwithiel (#litres_trial_promo)

XX The Nation’s Nightmares (#litres_trial_promo)

XXI Th’ Easy Earth That Covers Her: The Children’s Tales (#litres_trial_promo)

XXII God with Us! Montrose’s Campaign (#litres_trial_promo)

XXIII New Professions: Parliament Joan and Richard Wiseman (#litres_trial_promo)

XXIV The World is Turned Upside Down: The New Model Army and Naseby Fight (#litres_trial_promo)

XXV Ashes: The Siege of Taunton and the Clubmen (#litres_trial_promo)

XXVI The Birds in the Greenwoods are Mated Together: Anne Halkett and the Escape of James II (#litres_trial_promo)

XXVII Nor Iron Bars a Cage: The Capture of Charles I (#litres_trial_promo)

XXVIII A New Heaven and a New Earth: Anna Trapnel and the Levellers (#litres_trial_promo)

XXIX Stand Up Now, Stand Up Now: Gerrard Winstanley and the Diggers (#litres_trial_promo)

XXX The Second Civil War (#litres_trial_promo)

XXXI To Carisbrooke’s Narrow Case: Charles I in Captivity (#litres_trial_promo)

XXXII Oh, He is Gone, and Now hath Left Us Here: The Trial and Execution of Charles I (#litres_trial_promo)

XXXIII Into Another Mould? The Aftermath (#litres_trial_promo)

FURTHER READING (#litres_trial_promo)

INDEX (#litres_trial_promo)

P.S. Ideas, interviews & features… (#litres_trial_promo)

Interview (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Book (#litres_trial_promo)

Read on (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)