Overview

Examines a selection of Charles I's people, exploring their aspirations and discontents, their engagement with kindred and colleagues, and central authority, in an age they recognized as 'troubled'. This book examines the lives and circumstances of a variety of English men and women in the decades before the English Civil War, and follows some of them to the Restoration. It introduces a selection of Charles I's people, some of them previously undocumented, and explores their aspirations and discontents, their engagement with their kindred, their colleagues and central authority. These were members of the clerical, professional and commercial classes or from the minor gentry and aristocratic fringe - the backbone of the political nation - engaged, in various ways, with military, governmental, ecclesiastical or commercial affairs. Most feature little in previous historical studies, but key moments in their lives are reconstructed here from scattered references or rare collections. They are shown negotiating the shoals of ambition and opportunity, kinship and patronage, religious anxiety and personal distress, in an age they recognized as 'troubled'. Preoccupied by their own careers and comforts, and driven by personal anxieties and ambitions, Charles I's subjects coped with the pressures of public occurrences and the business of church and state. In that regard they shared some stresses with our own age, though theirs eventuated in civil war and revolution.

Full Product Details

Author:   David Cressy (Contributor)
Publisher:   Boydell & Brewer Ltd
Imprint:   Boydell & Brewer
ISBN:  

9781837652914

ISBN 10:   1837652910
Pages:   310
Publication Date:   18 November 2025
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Contents Introduction Conventions and Abbreviations 1. Sir John Ogle and the End of Ambition: A Commander Retires from the Field 2. Captain Pennington's Perplexity: Honour and Duty at Sea 3. Hugh Pyne and John Poulet: Dangerous Words and Aristocratic Ambitions 4. Alexander Leighton's Troubles: Mutilation, Imprisonment, and Episcopacy 5. Peter Smart and John Cosin: The Beauty of Holiness and its Detractors 6. Lady Eleanor's Kettle of Filth: Prophecy and Desecration in England's Babylon 7. Judith Calley's Collared Brawn: Country, Court, and the Spanish Connection 8. William Morton's Barren Fruit: A Godly Lecturer's Career and Contacts 9. Henry Butts and the Frown of a King: The Death of a Vice-Chancellor 10. Thomas Harrison's Loyal Heart: The Price of Crying Treason 11. Thomas Bushell's Remarkable Rocks: A Projector in Peace and War 12. Nicholas Crispe and the Gold of Africa: Tycoon, Slaver, and Spy Conclusion: Troubled People in Troubled Times Bibliography Index

Reviews

Author Information

DAVID CRESSY is George III Professor of British History emeritus, The Ohio State University. He is one of the leading early modernists of his generation and the author of fifteen books.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions