Cicely V. Wedgwood Libri

"When King Charles came home from Scotland in the autumn of 1641, London was bright with hangings and the fountains ran wine..." With these words, C V Wedgwood begins the second volume of her history of the Great Rebellion, covering the years from 1641 to 1647. This period includes the Parliamentary passage of the Grand Remonstrance and the dramatic moment when the Scots surrendered King Charles to the English. Key battles such as Marston Moor and Naseby unfold, with Prince Rupert emerging as the King's chief general and Montrose leading a brilliant yet doomed Scottish campaign. Following the death of Pym, Cromwell rises in prominence both in Parliament and on the battlefield, ultimately creating the New Model Army, which becomes a pivotal force for Parliament. This army represents not just military might but a transformative social force in England. By the volume's end, the Royalist cause faces a political and military defeat from which it cannot recover, as power shifts from the King to Parliament and within Parliament itself to factions led by Cromwell. The narrative is enriched by the influence of events in Scotland and Ireland, and Wedgwood depicts the tumult of military, political, and religious developments with clarity, humor, and empathy, capturing the tension and daily life in a nation at war.

Europe in 1618 was divided between Protestants and Catholics, and Bourbon and Hapsburg, as well as empires, kingdoms, and countless independent states. After angry Protestants tossed three representatives of the Holy Roman Empire out the window of the royal castle in Prague, world war spread from Bohemia with similar abandon and relentless persistence, destroying European powers from Spain to Sweden as they marched on the contested soil of Germany. Fanatics, speculators, and ordinary people found themselves trapped in a nightmarish world of famine, disease, and seemingly unstoppable destruction. The Thirty Years War was a turning point in the making of modern Europe and the modern world: out of it came the system of nation-states that remains fundamental to international law. C.V. Wedgwood's magisterial book is the only comprehensive account of the war in English, as well as a triumph of scholarship and literature. Includes maps and charts.