English Civil War

Richard Wilkinson argues that Cromwell had what it took to rule Britain but failed to achieve his own idealistic programme.

On a cold January morning in 1649 Charles I stepped out onto a scaffold in Whitehall and into history, seen by some as a tyrant, by others as a martyr. But how far was the intellectual climate of mid-17th-century England ready for the republic that followed? Sarah Barber presents the latest thinking.

Richard Cust reassesses the Stuart monarch's political style.

Graham Seel uncovers their pivotal and sometimes underhand role in the struggle between king and parliament.

The way in which the church commemoration of King Charles I's 1649 execution became a potent instrument in the political war of words after the Restoration is examined, and the history of the king's execution and the clergy's promotion of the event are discussed.

'Tis to be feared this threatening storm will not be allayed without some showers... of blood' – Chris Durston chronicles the rumours and fears of an England on the brink of fratricidal conflict.

Anne Laurence considers how the conflict between King and Parliament altered the occupations and preoccupations of England's women.

Richard Cavendish looks at all things Stuart in the month when Charles I lost his head.

Barbara Donagan discusses the variable treatment of captives by captors between Crown and Parliament and what light it sheds on the manners and mores of the times.

The campaign to preserve the Battle of Naseby site in Northamptonshire, a pivotal moment in the English Civil War.