"This book sheds new light on the myriad of ways in which the English Civil Wars of 1640-1660 were subsequently remembered, evoked and memorialised by those who were unfortunate enough to live through them. Remembering the English Civil Wars 1646-1700 introduces students and researchers to the fascinating, but still remarkably neglected, subject of 'the afterlife' of the Civil Wars. It provides them with a series of vivid, thought-provoking case-studies which will serve as points of entry to this expanding field; and lastly it makes a significant new contribution to the burgeoning scholarship on memory, power and authority in early modern Britain. This collection uncovers six key themes, civilian, political and provincial memories alongside petitioning, material culture and ceremony. Discussed throughout are also the issues of gender, religion, authority and the impact of the wars on the political and social dimensions of British society from 1646 to 1700, such as how people manipulated and repurposed the Civil Wars, from across the social and geographical spectrum, for their own ends and agendas. This book is essential reading for all students of the English Civil War, early modern Britain and the history of memory"--
Remembering the English Civil Wars
is the first collection of essays to explore how the bloody struggle which took place between the supporters of king and parliament during the 1640s was viewed in retrospect.
The English Civil Wars were perhaps the most calamitous series of conflicts in the country’s recorded history. Over the past twenty years there has been a surge of interest in the way that the Civil Wars were remembered by the men, women and children who were unfortunate enough to live through them. The essays brought together in this book not only provide a clear and accessible introduction to this fast-developing field of study but also bring together the voices of a diverse group of scholars who are working at its cutting edge. Through the investigation of a broad, but closely interrelated, range of topics – including elite, popular, urban and local memories of the wars, as well as the relationships between civil war memory and ceremony, material culture and concepts of space and place – the essays contained in this volume demonstrate, with exceptional vividness and clarity, how the people of England and Wales continued to be haunted by the ghosts of the mid-century conflict throughout the decades which followed.
The book will be essential reading for all students of the English Civil Wars, Stuart Britain and the history of memory.
The essays brought together in this first, edited collection to be devoted specifically to the memory of the Civil Wars, provides a clear and accessible introduction to this fast-developing field of study, bringing together a diverse group of scholars who are working at its cutting edge.
