Stuart England

The seventeenth century in England was a period of unprecedented growth and fulfilment; the key century of the modern era. When it opened she was a comparatively poor nation on the outer fringes of Europe. When it closed she was one of the major powers, competing with Louis XIV’s France for the hegemony of the European world.

Along the way the country had surmounted a major rebellion and a civil war. Yet her institutions and social structure were, if anything, strengthened: in fact, during this century parliament evolved into something approaching its present form and function, and the great philosophers, Hobbes and Locke, fashioned new and far-reaching theories of political obligation to accommodate it. At the same time scientists, led by Newton, were reshaping man’s view of the physical world, and left-wing radicals like John Lilburne were (prematurely) laying the foundations of proletarian socialism.

Stuart England is the subject of continual and active research, and Professor Kenyon’s survey – the first new volume to be added for many years to the famous Pelican History of England series – presents a unified picture of the contentious century, as well as featuring a full and up-to-date critical bibliography.