The Royalist War Effort, 1642-1646

In this new contribution to Civil War studies the author has set himself an ambitious task. It is to explain the mechanism by which Charles I raised men, money and other resources in the area from which he drew his greatest support throughout the war, the twenty English and Welsh counties to the west of and including Warwickshire and Staffordshire, and in doing so to examine the relationship between the Royalists and the local communities there.

With a directness and vitality worthy of the man who emerges from this study as something of a hero – Prince Rupert – the author tackles the problem head on. He begins by looking at the character of support for the King in Wales and the Marches and concludes, challengingly that there was little 'natural' Royalism there: the war was 'an artificial insemination of violence' by King and Parliament into otherwise peaceful and harmonious communities.