English Civil War

David L Smith explains why Cromwell so signally failed to establish harmony with his Parliaments.

Martyn Bennett examines how the terminology we use about the great conflict of the mid-seventeenth century reflects and reinforces the interpretations we make.

David L. Smith provides an overview of parliamentary history during the 'century of revolutions'.

During the Commonwealth years England's navy scored a series of notable victories against the Dutch and Spanish, but the heroes of the navy were army men, not sailors. Michael Baumber scrutinises the career of the greatest general-at-sea, Robert Blake, who put new heart into the Senior Service. 

Annual competition for essays on Oliver Cromwell.

In this edited version of a lecture given on 25 March 1999, to commemorate the anniversary of Cromwell's birth, John Morrill provides us with a series of snapshots, at different ages, of the troubled visionary who aspired to lead a new chosen people out of the bondage of Stuart tyranny.

The early life of Oliver Cromwell, who was born on 25 April 1599.

Sean Kelsey reconsiders the events of January 1649 and argues the trial was skilfully appropriated by rump politicians in paving the way for the new Commonwealth.

Barry Coward grapples with a question which has become more difficult to answer as a result of recent scholarship. He finds the answer lies in the New Model Army, in religious passion and in Charles himself.

John Adamson argues that the importance of the Celtic fringe in the events of the 1640s has been exaggerated.