The Civil Wars of the 1640s were perhaps the most violent and destructive episodes in British history. This was a struggle between King Charles I and Parliament over how, and in whose interests, the country should be governed. The Parliamentarians , or ‘Roundheads’. They were given this name because they had much shorter haircuts compared to the long, curly wigs worn by Charles and his supporters. Recommended titles grouped by theme/topic ... with a list of English Civil War novels at the bottom. In December 1641, Parliament narrowly voted in favour of the Grand Remonstrance . This was a list of demands for Charles to make further reforms. Even some MPs felt this went too far. Charles refused to agree to the Grand Remonstrance.

In January 1642, Charles went into the Houses of Parliament to try and arrest 5 MPs, but they had been warned of his arrival and escaped on the River Thames.The best English Civil Wars books have a very focused viewpoint, focusing either on the sects, or religion, or politics, and bring to light a new way of looking at this time in history. Where the novel is primarily set in the British Isles anytime from the lead-up to war until the Restoration ...

Diane Purkiss in The English Civil War gathers together and weaves beautifully letters, plays, ballads and memoirs of actual participants of events during this time. She focuses on the relationship between Oliver Cromwell and Charles I, using eyewitness accounts to tell her story. The World Turned Upside Down by Christopher Hill is an interesting account of the radical groups and their beliefs who were prevalent during this time, groups such as the Ranters, the Levellers, the Fifth Monarchists, The Familists, the Diggers, and many others. Once war began all the Celtic fringe nations became embroiled in the English fears of invasion. The prevalence of Welsh troops in the king’s army was particularly noted in the early stages of the war. This had origins in a general mistrust of the Welsh within England, and was given a sharp edge by the Roman Catholicism of the earl of Worcester, appointed lord lieutenant of Wales. Member of Parliament Oliver Cromwell commented that he feared another Ireland—a further papist rebellion—in Wales, in the run up to war in England, because of this laboured but perceived-as-potent link between Wales and rebellious Catholic Ireland. The Welsh Royalists were described in vitriolic terms as barbarous and thieving foreigners. That this affected the minds of the Welsh is undoubted; Stoyle suggests that there were fears amongst the Welsh that Parliament desired their extirpation in the latter stages of the war when its forces made significant incursions into Wales. There were occasions that would give rise to that expectation; the barbarous murder of the garrison at Canon Frome being just one example of seeming ‘special treatment’. Yet, to confuse matters, this massacre was carried out by Scottish troops, not English Parliamentarians.

The Civil War divided the nation and it had a terrible effect upon ordinary people. Here at Kew, they’ve got this wonderful book of bound letters. This one here is by an officer in the Parliamentary army, Nehemiah Wharton, and he wrote it to an acquaintance. In this letter, written during the early stages of the Civil Wars, he describes a range of actions by the opposing Royalist troops: “Certain gentlemen of the country informed me that Justice Edmund, a well-spoken man, was robbed by the vile bluecoats of Colonel Chomley’s regiment and lost even their beds”. England’s last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, died in 1603, and was succeeded by her cousin, James Stuart. Already King James VI of Scotland, he became King James I of England and Ireland as well, uniting the three kingdoms under a single ruler for the first time. Though at first the Catholic minority in England welcomed James’ ascension to the throne, they later turned against his regime, even attempting to blow up the king and Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot. There is also the tragedy in it: that the Church and monarchy were restored, and social class remained as entrenched as ever. It is an inspirational book at best, as present day revolutionaries can take some strength from these literary fertile times. It is this concentration on the small, personal act that makes Diane Purkiss's study of the English civil war such a rich one. For it is here, in the tiny gestures of the everyday - often contradictory, ambiguous or confused - that you begin to get close to what it would have been like to live through the nine momentous years from 1640 to 1649. While top-down or bottom-up historical accounts will tell you about the big shapes and grand arcs of the civil war - the "Grand Remonstrance", the carnage at Naseby, the cancelling of Christmas - it is in the odd, human details that you begin to touch the real texture of the times. The two sources we’ve looked at give us a great sense of the war’s immediate impact upon men and women. But we need a longer-term picture. And here’s a source that provides it.