PART 1 Early Stuart England, 1603 1640 1
Introduction 3
1 The economy of early Stuart England 5
The population and the economy 5The optimistic case 7The pessimistic case 10Conclusion 16
2 Society in early Stuart England 18
The achievements of social historians writing in the 1970s and 1980s 19From the 1990s onwards: social history with the politics put back 35Intellectual developments and popular beliefs 38Conclusion 58
3 The Elizabethan constitution 62
The framework of government 63Stresses within the Elizabethan constitution: political and religious divisions and the public sphere 77
PART 2 The reigns of the early Stuarts, 1603 1640 87
Introduction 89
4 The survival of the Elizabethan constitution, 1603 1621 93
James I and the succession 94Peace with Spain and the settlement in Ireland 99Puritans and Catholics 103Jamess first parliament, 1604 1610 110Rule without parliament, 1610 1621 121
5 The breakdown of the Elizabethan constitution, 16211640 129
16211624: the emergence of conflicting conspiracy theories 131The prerogative extended . . . beyond its just symmetry, 1625 1629 137The Personal Rule, 1629 1640 146
PART 3 The English Revolution, 1640 1660 165
Introduction 167
6 The making of the English Revolution, 1640 1649 169
The constitutional crisis, November 1640 September 1641 170The crisis becomes a civil war, September 1641July 1642 182The first civil war, 16421646 191The search for a settlement: king, parliament, the army and the Scots, 1645 1649 215
7 The search for a new settlement, 1649 1660 233
The search for a godly reformation 234The Rump Parliament, 1649 1653 242Barebones Parliament, JulyDecember 1653 254Oliver Cromwell 257Cromwellian government, 1653 1658 265The end of the Good Old Cause, 1658 1660 281
PART 4 The reigns of Charles II and James II, 1660 1688 285
Introduction 287
8 The failure of the Restoration Settlement, 1660 1667 291
The Convention Parliament, 1660: old wounds reopened and old problems unsolved 291The Cavalier Parliament and the restored monarchy, 16611664 296The Cavalier Parliament and the restored Church, 16611664 299The second Dutch war and the downfall of Clarendon, 1664 1667 305
9 Catholic or Cavalier policies, 1668 1674 311
10 Anti-Catholicism and exclusion, 1674 1681 321
Anti-Catholicism 321Danby, 1674 1678 325The Popish Plot 333The Exclusion Crisis, May 1679 March 1681 337
11 The trend towards absolutism, 16811688 343
The strengthening of royal authority, 16811685 344James II and Protestant unity, February 1685 June 1688 347The intervention of William of Orange, 1688 354
PART 5 The reigns of William III and Queen Anne, 1689 1714 357
Introduction 359
12 The reign of William III, 1689 1702 363
Politics in the reign of William III 363The Glorious Revolution, 1689 1690 367A country at war, 1690 1697 378Peace and politics: the collapse of the Junto, 16971701 397Party issues redefi ned, 17011702 403
13 The reign of Queen Anne, 17021714 409
Politics in the reign of Queen Anne 409The failure of the managers, 17021708 416The failure of the Whigs and Tories, 1708 1714 440
PART 6 Later Stuart England: change and continuity 463
14 Change 465
The long-term effects of the Glorious Revolution: war and constitutional changes 465Religious and intellectual changes 474Economic and social changes 486
15 Continuity: 1714 the end of the Middle Ages? 507
Bibliographical note 512Appendix: Timeline 532Index 565
