The Causes Of The English Civil War (Ford Lectures, 1987-1988)

The Causes of the English Civil War (Ford Lectures, 1987-1988)

Review"Essential reading for scholars and undergraduates."--History: Reviews of New Books"Driven by a powerful central theme and illuminated by flashes of brilliance."--American Historical Review"This is a wonderful set of lectures. It is quite the best thing I know on the vexed problems of causes, and presents Lord Russell in a new and most impressive guise."--J.H.M. Salmon, Bryn Mawr College"The work's indispensability and profound scholarship cannot be denied."--CHOICE"Russell succeeds in a tour de force of accessible scholarship....Russell's vision of the civil war will henceforth be our ruling orthodoxy. His is a remarkable achievement."--The Times (London)"Conrad Russell's brilliant new book..."--AlbionWhat were the causes of the English Civil War? The traditional explanations involving the struggle for sovereignty and the bourgeois revolution have been questioned in recent years. In this study, Conrad Russell offers a compelling new analysis, bringing into focus fundamental religious and constitutional issues of vital importance to contemporaries but neglected by historians. Drawing heavily on research in printed and unpublished sources, Russell highlights the constitutional problem of multiple kingdoms within Britain; the religious problem of competing theologies within and outside a state church; and the economic problem of the inadequacy of royal revenue to meet the needs of the monarchy. The most in-depth account to date of the origins of one of the most significant events in British history, this will be essential reading for all students of the seventeenth century.From the Back CoverProfessor Russell highlights the constitutional problem of multiple kingdoms within Britain, the religious problem of competing theologies within two or three state churches, and the financial problem of the inadequacy of royal revenue to meet the needs of the monarchy.About the AuthorConrad Russell is at King's College, London.