Royalists and Royalism during the English Civil Wars

Much ink has been spent on accounts of the English Civil Wars of the mid-seventeenth century, yet royalism has been largely neglected. This volume of essays by leading scholars in the field seeks to fill that significant gap in our understanding by focusing on those who took up arms for the king. The royalists described were not reactionary, absolutist extremists but pragmatic, moderate men who were not so different in temperament or background from the vast majority of those who decided to side with, or were forced by circumstances to side with, Parliament and its army. The essays force us to think beyond the simplistic dichotomy between royalist 'absolutists' and 'constitutionalists' and suggest instead that allegiances were much more fluid and contingent than has hitherto been recognized. This is a major contribution to the political and intellectual history of the Civil Wars and of early modern England more generally.

1. Introduction: rethinking Royalists and Royalism Jason McElligott and David L. Smith; 2. A lesson in loyalty: Charles I and the short parliament Mark A. Kishlansky; 3. The court and the emergence of a Royalist party Malcolm Smuts; 4. Varieties of Royalism Barbara Donagan; 5. Royalist reputations: the Cavalier ideal and the reality Ian Roy; 6. Counsel and cabal in the King's party, 1642–6 David Scott; 7. 'I doe desire to be rightly vnderstood': rhetorical strategies in the letters of Charles I Sarah Poynting; 8. Royalists and the new model army in 1647: circumstance, principle and compromise Rachel Foxley; 9. The Royalist origins of the separation powers Michael Mendle; 10. 'A No-King, or a New'. Royalists and the succession, 1648–9 Sean Kelsey; 11. The Royalism of Andrew Marvell Blair Worden.

This 2007 volume of essays by leading scholars in the field seeks to fill the significant gap in our understanding of the English Civil Wars by focusing on the largely neglected aspect of royalism. The essays force us to think beyond the simplistic dichotomy between royalist 'absolutists' and 'constitutionalists'.