This second edition brings up to date its original survey of the dramatic eleven-year period when Britain, having executed its King, experimented with various forms of alternative government. The character of that experiment and the legacy it left are the key themes of the book. Oliver Cromwell, an extraordinary man in an extraordinary situation, is the central figure. What he achieved and the controversies that continue to surround him receive close examination. In addition, the book analyses the remarkable social, economic and religious movements of this fascinating age, and casts light on the lives of the ordinary people as well as leading politicians. The updated study guides provide a firm basis for answering differentiated, source-based and extended-writing questions.

Explores what happened once the monarchy had been swept away after the civil war and puritans found themselves in power. Examines campaigns to regulate sexual behaviour, reform language, and suppress Christmas traditions, disorderly sports, and popular music. Shows how reformers, despite meeting defiance and evasion, could have a major impact.

The English Civil War was followed by a period of unprecedented religious tolerance and the spread of new religious ideas and practices. Britain experienced a period of so-called "Godly religious rule" and a breakdown of religious uniformity that was perceived as a threat to social order by some and a welcome innovation to others. The period of Godly religious rule has been significantly neglected by historians--we know remarkably little about religious organization or experience at a parochial level in the 1640s and 1650s. This volume addresses these issues by investigating important questions concerning the relationship between religion and society in the years between the first Civil War and the Restoration. How did ordinary people experience this period of dramatic upheaval? How did religious imperatives change and develop? Did people resist Godly imperatives?With its nuanced analysis of Cromwell's England, Church and People in Interregnum Britain will interest religious scholars, enthusiasts of military history, and public historians.

The Access to History series is the most popular and trusted series for AS and A level history students. This title is written specifically for the 2008 AS specifications for OCR and AQA, covering the key economic, political and social issues of the period. It focuses on the changing fortunes of the political parties at the time and the ways in which they were affected by the impacts of the two world wars. The pressures for social reform throughout the period are also analysed.

No Englishman has made more impact on the history of his nation than Oliver Cromwell; few have been so persistently maligned in the folklore of history. The central purpose of Antonia Fraser's book is the recreation of his life and character, freed from the distortions of myth and Royalist propaganda. Cromwell was a man of contradictions and surprising charm. The ruthless Psalm-singing General of the battlefields was also a country gentleman who, after his victory at Worcester paused to hawk in the fields nearby; the stern Puritan was also an exceptionally doting father; the most decisive and ruthless of commanders was also the passionate connoisseur of music; the strong man of England was prey to exhausting prolonged bouts of irresolution and as Lord Protector kept England on tenterhooks for a week while he wrestled with his conscience whether to accept the Crown. Of Cromwell's fitness for high office, both military and civil, this fascinating biography leaves no doubt. Under his rule English prestige abroad rose to a level unequalled since Elizabeth I. Yet - as Antonia Fraser's judicious assessment shows - his campaign in Ireland has cast a shadow over his reputation. As in all her books, Antonia Fraser combines a high standard of scholarship with a most exciting narrative. The result is a major biography in the finest tradition which displays great insight into this complex man and reveals a totally unexpected Cromwell far removed from the received stereotype.

This book was the first full account of one of the most famous quarrels of the seventeenth century, that between the philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and the Anglican archbishop of Armagh, John Bramhall (1594-1663). This analytical narrative interprets that quarrel within its own immediate and complicated historical circumstances, the Civil Wars (1638-49) and Interregnum (1649-60). The personal clash of Hobbes and Bramhall is connected to the broader conflict, disorder, violence, dislocation and exile that characterised those periods. This monograph offered not only the first comprehensive narrative of their hostilities over two decades, but also an illuminating analysis of aspects of their private and public quarrel that have been neglected in previous accounts, with special attention devoted to their dispute over political and religious authority. This will be of interest to scholars of early modern British history, religious history and the history of ideas.

This special issue of ANGLES marks the three hundredth anniversary of the Union of the two kingdoms of Scotland and England under the name of the Kingdom of Great Britain.