Since their publication in the Camden Series over 100 years ago, Sir Charles Firth's editions of the papers and New Model Army secretary William Clarke, Clarke Papers I-IV (1891-1901), have formed a fundamental source for students of the English Civil War and Interregnum, 1642-1660. This volume offers a further selection, deciphered for the first time since they were written by Frances Henderson, from the many documents which Clarke disguised in one of the rudimentary shorthand systems of his day. The new material consists mainly of the political intelligence which was being passed at every level from informed sources in London and elsewhere to English army headquarters in Scotland, where Clarke was based during the 1650s. The text is fully annotated. Appendices include a list of correspondents identified by Clarke in shorthand letters otherwise written en clair, and a survey of the use of shorthand in early seventeenth-century England.

Despite its failure to unseat King James II, the Monmouth Rebellion had a profound influence upon English politics. In particular, it reignited the debate about whether the country should rely on a professional army under direct royal control or local country militias made up of part-time soldiers. King James favoured the former, and used criticism of the militia’s performance during the rebellion to support his argument. Contemporary commentators and historians alike all certainly seemed to agree that the king’s victory was won in spite of - not because of - the militia. But is this a fair judgement? Drawing upon a wealth of information gathered from personal accounts, private papers, letters, financial records, diaries and memoirs, this book revisits the events of 1685 to assess the militia’s performance in helping to defeat the so-called ’pitchfork rebellion’. Through an extensive investigation into the militia itself, its social composition, role, training, armament and leadership the study sets a benchmark for what could have been realistically expected of these part-time soldiers, and then sets this against the actual tasks that were asked of it in 1685. The results that emerge from this exercise paint a very different picture of the militia’s role in the rebellion than has hitherto been accepted by historians. Judged by these criteria, a convincing case is made that the militia was in fact an efficient military organisation according to contemporary expectations and demands made of it. Criticisms of it, it is argued, stem more from political expediency than impartial judgment. As well as being of interest to military and social historians, this book demonstrates the dangers to all historians of taking at face value contemporary comments. It shows how subtle and interlocking forces, that may at first glance appear unrelated, can work together to colour opinions of events and organisations.

First Published in 1981. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

John A. Macdonald's flamboyant personality dominated Canadian public life from the years preceding Confederation to the end of the 19th century. 'Probably the greatest Canadian biography yet published in English' - Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

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.

The second volume in an acclaimed biography of Oliver Cromwell, from the capture of Charles I to the expulsion of the Long Parliament In 1647, the Parliamentarians were divided. They had won the first civil war and the king was in custody, but disagreements over the way forward had led to a stalemate. As the leader of one party, Oliver Cromwell found himself again at the centre of events. In the second volume of his pioneering biography, Ronald Hutton traces Cromwell’s career from 1647 through to his seizure of supreme power. These decisive years saw the execution of Charles I and the establishment of the Commonwealth of England, as well as notorious and savage campaigns in Ireland and Scotland. Cromwell’s political and military leadership were well honed after years of practice, but this was also the period of his greatest ruthlessness and brutality. This groundbreaking account reveals a different kind of Cromwell, showing how he navigated the many forces ranged against him—and rose to the pinnacle of his power.

John Lilburne (1615–1657), or 'Freeborn John' as he was called by the London crowd, was an important political agitator during the English Revolution. He was one of the leading figures in the Levellers, the short-lived but highly influential radical sect that called for law reform, religious tolerance, extended suffrage, the rights of freeborn Englishmen, and a new form of government that was answerable to the people and underpinned by a written constitution. This edited book assesses the legacy of Lilburne and the Levellers 400 years after his birth, and features contributions by leading historians. They examine the life of Lilburne, who was often imprisoned and even tortured for his beliefs, and his role as an inspirational figure even in contemporary politics. They also assess his writings that fearlessly exposed the hypocrisy and self-serving corruption of those in power – whether King Charles I or Oliver Cromwell. They look at his contribution to political ideas, his role as a revolutionary leader, his personal and political relations with his wife Elizabeth, his exile in the Netherlands, his late decision to become a Quaker, and his reputation after his death. This collection will be of enormous interest to academics, researchers, and readers with an interest in the English Civil War, seventeenth-century history, and the contemporary legacy of radical political tradition.