The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1640-1660 [9 Volume Set]

The most comprehensive and complete study ever compiled about the turbulent period of the English and British Civil Wars and their aftermath. The work of more than thirty years and multiple authors, the long-awaited nine volumes and more than 8,000 pages of The History of Parliament: The House of Commons 1640-1660 make up an enormous resource that historians will regard as the most comprehensive collection of information and analysis ever compiled of the politics of perhaps the most critical and dramatic period of English and British history. During it, a political crisis became a civil war in which the Westminster Parliament confronted, and ultimately defeated King Charles I, putting him on trial and executing him in 1649. Over the following eleven years, the struggle to establish a stable and legitimate government saw the young Republic displaced in 1653 by the army under Oliver Cromwell, Cromwell's assumption of the title of Lord Protector, and, after his death a contest for power that ended with the collapse of the revived Republic and the ultimate Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. The work's main component is the 1,800 biographies of everyone was elected to the House of Commons between these years, including substantial reinterpretations of the lives of all of the major figures - Cromwell, Pym, Hampden and many others - as well as members of Oliver Cromwell's 'Other House', the second chamber of 1658-9. There are also accounts of the politics and elections of each constituency that returned members to the House of Commons - including the Scottish and Irish counties and towns that did so under the short-lived union constitution of 1653, the Instrument of Government. There are studies of the series of executive committees that were set up by Parliament to manage the enormous tasks of raising money for the war, directing its forces, maintaining its relationships with its allies (especially the Scots), and negotiating with foreign powers. And, finally, there is an introductory survey, summarising and analysing all this material as well as providing an essential political narrative of the period. These volumes contain huge amounts of previously unknown information about the personalities and backgrounds of those involved in politics, and fresh and authoritative interpretation of their manoeuvrings and motivations. They include the...