The History of England

Contemporary poets found it difficult to deal with Cromwell, both before and after his death. Margaret Oakes talks about how the approach they took, and what they chose to reflect of the man and his career

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"Never man was highlier extolled, and never man baselier reported of and vilified” write Richard Baxter - a contemporary of Oliver Cromwell, who was not a fan. In this he was closer to the truth than Samuel Johnson, who wearily wrote in the 18th century that "all that can be told of him is already in print.” Cromwell is makes a subject extraordinarily divisive, and extraordinarily rich, partly because, as some other clever person remarked, people find in him what they are looking for.

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Nelson was a military genius and fierce patriot, idolised by his men and the British public - and held up to ridicule too, for his affair with Emma and his treatment of Fanny. In his book for children, 'Nelson, Hero of the Seas', historian, author and Rest is History podcaster Dominic Sandbrook, brings out his charisma and genius - and his complexity and flaws. And Dominic also had time to speak to me about the challenges and glories of writing for young people - and about Nelson.

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In 1649 the English parliament proudly declared that freedom had been restored and that King and Lords had been rejected. But in other ways, the new Commonwealth failed to bring about a new world. True there were difficult problems to resolve with war in Ireland, Scotland and against the Dutch. And naval and commercial achievement was significant. But the English people did not feel they were advancing to a new, better world, and the Rump became deeply unpopular. In the end - there would be a crisis

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In 1646, Charles secretly left Oxford, not sure whether to appeal to the English in London, or the Scots at Newark. It was the start of a long process of three years, which would see torturous negotiations - and the rise of extraordinary ideas about the rights of the people and religious toleration, and how to make all the blood worthwhile in a new world. It was a journey that would lead to the scaffold on a cold morning in January 1649.

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In his haste to expel the Rump which had failed so badly, Cromwell and the Army officers came up with a temporary expedient. The Nominated assembly would be chosen from the most sober, Godly and intelligent of society, they would do the job of reform the Rump had failed to do, set up proper elections, and then retire once more, their job done. The Commonwealth would be restored and set on the right path. Well; that was the idea.

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The promised land looked for so longingly by so many seemed in 1653 to be stubbornly remote. Legal reform blocked, religious programmes cancelled, an apparently corrupt parliament, high taxes, and still no fresh elections - rulers seemingly interested only in war and exploting power foir their own advantage. In the Army Council of Officers the resentment was mounting.

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John Milton and Marchamont Nedham were unlikely bedfellows; and yet they became friends, worked closely together and in their very different ways sought to promote the English Republic to the country and outside world. Anthony Bromley talks about their careers in the Republic and how they sought to promote it.

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The English Commonwealth took a very different approach to settling the threats which had faced it in 1649, and the future of the three kingdoms. In Ireland, the guiding principle was retribution; in Scotland some effort at least of collaboration. To a new threat the response was uncompromising - it was war.

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So, while the army was away, August 1649 to September 1651 what had the Rump parliament been doing to build the promised new world of Liberty? We find out that social reform takes a back seat to moral reform - the Garland of the Sea - and picking fights with friends.

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The deal struck between the Covenanters and Charles brought an invasion from the Commonwealth that faced annihalation at Dunbar in September 1650. Exactly a year later, the end game of Charles' attempt to detroy the Republic came to a head outside Worcester - which John Adams wouild call the 'Ground of Liberty'.

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The Council of State were convinced that only General Cromwell could deliver victory in Ireland; and Cromwell used this to negotiate the best possible supply of men, money and material. From August 1649 to May 1650 Cromwell's campaign brought the Confederacy close to defeat, and he visited two infamous atrocities on the towns of Drogheda and Wexford.

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Part two, about 30 questions I think; Religion, the public Sphere, culture - and a couple of 'What Ifs' which were really good fun

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We had a vast number of brilliant quesrtions. Sam (Pax Britannica) and David (of this parish) had a lovely time - but went on a bit, there's no denying it. So this is part I, about 25 questions, mostly about politics and the civil wars themselves

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In April 1649 the new Commonwealth was under siege, enemies with and without. The Levelers saw the new Commonwealth as a betrayal of the revolution, and set out to raise rebellion against the Rump and the Grandees, to set soldiers against their officers and people against their parliament. Meanwhile, Gerald Winstanley started writing furious pamphelts, demanding social reform - and a True Leveling.

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On 30th January, Charles I went to the scaffold, the first king to be publicly tried and executed by his people. He died with enormous dignity - and was duly proclaimed a martyr. With the king gone, a new state was proclaimed in his place - based on the sovereignty of the people, and ruled by a House of Commons that representated it, with the executive Council of State. As the Commonwealth's servants, John Milton and Marchamont Nedham worked to proclaim it's legitimacy, enemies both internal and external circled.

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I am about to start a new series for Shedcast members, called Birth of Britain. It takes British history from the year dot to somewhere around 600. So I am starting the series off with an interview with friend and archaeologist Dr Richard Grove, to give us a bit of an overview. This episode is an extract from that interview. I thought that (a) you would find it interesting and that (b) it might persuade you might sign up to be a member at The History of England

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Once the decision was taken to put Charles on trial, the Commissiobners agonised about the detail at Westminster; the trial must be seen to be fair. But few can have doubted its outcome. The theatre of the trial was almost a gladatorial contest between representatives of the two sides, in the form of President Bradshaw, and King Charles

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The New Model, Levellers and Radical MPs reacted with steely determination to the adoption of the Newport treaty. It was probably Ireton that inspired Pride's Purge. Ireton it was also that drove the development of the constitutional proposal that followed, forged in the Whitehall Debates - the Agreement of the People. That would have to wait though, because more immediate questions were at hand. What now to do with this incorrigible king?

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In July. Hamilton launched his army of Scots across the border, in confident expectation that his 14,000 would be swelled by enthusiastic English royalists. England would know it's fate at Preston, when the opposimg commanders, Hamilton and Cromwell, threw the dice. While parliament would receive two proposals for a lasting peace; the Remonstranbce of the Army, penned by Ireton, Radical MPs and Levellers; and the Newport Treaty from their commissioners and the king. Which way would the bones fall?

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If the people of England had gone to war to build a better world, by January 1648 they were seriously unimpressed with what Utopia looked like. The issues that distressed the people were legion - taxes, religion, sequestration, omne daft ideas about equality, county committees - even Christmas! And when news of the King's Engagement with the Scots got out, well, some people saw that as an opportunity to restore the right order of things. Which would surely only come well the World was turned rightside up again, and the King Came Into His Own once more.

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In November 1647 at Corkbush field near Ware, Fairfax faced a dangerous threat to army unity - the work of the Leveller Agitators had incited some regiments to mutiny, in support of the Agreeent of the People. Meanwhile Charles had fled Hampton Court; he would find his new home even less to his liking. Until he had a strictly private discussion with the Scots...

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Following the attenpt by parliament to close the army down without pay, and the resulting August 1647 coup, the army was a seething mass of worries and resentments. Thrown into the mix were the radical political ideas of the Levellers. Together, all of this threatened chaos and even mutiny. So Cromwell and Fairfax invited representatives of their brothers in arms to thrash all of this out in the open forum of the General Council of the Army, at the church of Sy Mary's in Putney, in October 1647. The resulting discusson is the earliest example of demands for genuine democratic reform in English history.

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In July, England had the prospect of king, Fairfax and Army triumphantly entering London with a new, open and tolerant constitution and a bright future. But Charles had killed that. So, in the face of the hostility of parliament, and fortified by their Solemn Engagement, the New Model Army decided to take England's future into their own hands.

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With the king under their control, the determination of Fairfax's Army made Presbyterian parliamentarians buckle. And when Ireton presented the carefully worked Heads of Proposals to the Officers and Agitators at the Army General Council at Reading, it seemed that at last a peace agreement was within grasp. Once agreed, Fairfax and the Army could march into London with King Charles at its head, and a new world could begin. All that was needed was the king to agree to the best peace proposals he will ever receive, so good surely it'll be in the bag.

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In 1647 The New Model Army became a battleground between Independant and Presbyterian factions. Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell were caught in the middle. As Holles came closer and closer to destroying the New Model, Fairfax might be forced to choose between the parliament whose rights he had fought to uphold, and justice for the soldiers with whom he'd lived and fought.

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In June 1646 Charles' path had taken him to the Scots, on the hope he could persuade them to put him back on the English throne. But he was not prepared to pay their price, and in England Holles and the Presbyterian party saw a way to break the power of the New Model Amy and the Independents once and for all. And achieving the departure of the Scottish army was the key.

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The Levellers were not an organized, structured politial party or pressure group. They were a loose association of radicals who found they shared new ideas that sprang from their religious view, the chaos and freedoms of the time, and the possibility of change. In 1646 their first coherent petition hit the streets - The Remonstrance of Many Thousand Citizens

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In one sense this is a Tale of Two Cities - Oxford and London, HQs of King and Parliament. But the First Civil war is a conflict that reaches into every town, village and parish. There are national armies, regional armies, local armies and countless garrisons. Even commuities that try to reject any conflict - the Clubmen. This is the story of the First Civil War as king and parliament fight over religion and their version of the Ancient Constitution.

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Charles options in 1645 were increasingly limited, as Fairfax and Cromwell closed down garrison after garison, and parliament defeated the few remaining royalist field armies. In Ireland he sent an envoy with secret instructions to the Confederate Association - maybe new concessions would a fresh army of 10,000 men to turn things around? Or in Scotland, Montrose was still ripping Covenanter armies to pieces - and had marched into Glasgow and called a new Scottish parliament. Or maybe France would help? Jean de Montereul, Mazarin's diplomat, was making nice noises. Surely all was not yet over? After all, he was God's annointed facing mere rebels.

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17th Century was a century of change and revolution, a world beautifully described in the a rich and varied book, The Blazing World. Historian Jonathan Healey comes along to talk through some of the themes and events that make the century such a fascinating time.

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After Naseby, Fairfax took the New Model on the Western Campaign, to deal with the last remaining significant royalist army in the field - George Goring at Taunton. On the way, and after victory at Langport, he met the phenomenon of the Clubmen risings. As communities tried to rediscover the peace that had been lost.

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We come to 1645, and the first test of the New Model Army. To Charles and Rupert this was an opportunity to destroy it while full of raw recruits. Through the sack of Leicester they lured the 'brutish' general Fairfax to meet them on the fields of Naseby.

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Despite the realities of the strategic situation, parliament and people were deeply discouraged by the failures of the Lostwithial and Newbury campaigns. Parliament was fractious, divided and argumentative. But from the disputes, debates and divisions - a solution emerged, and was crafted into a new weapon of the Revoluton.

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Excavations in Suffolk near Sutton Hoo have revealed fascinating news about the royal centre at Rendlesham, active from 570 to 730 ish. There's that - and news of a new Anglo Saxon series for you all

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In his efforts to secure Oxford's safety,Charles was faced at Newbury by a far larger army. Find out what happens - and then we go north, where Montrose and Macolla give the Covenanters a nasty shock.

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Henry Frederick Stuart's death gives us one of those great 'what if?' moments in history, like the death of Arthur Tudor. Zachery of Drinks with Great Minds in History tells us what we missed

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Will and Patrick of the Cloak and Dagger podcast explore assassinations and crime of the past. in this episode, we go to Edward I's Jewel house - a thick walled, impregnable fortress to keep the king's treasure safe. But some of his less salubrious and loyal subjects had an idea that maybe it could be a little more pregnable than it looked

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The defeat at Marston Moor in July 1644 raised the very, very strong possibility of the king's defeat. In the Midlands, a small force under the king faced the much larger combined armies of Essex and Waller. Against all expectations, the showdown came in Cornwall. 

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This is my chronological retelling of the story of the English in regular chunks. It’s been going since Christmas Day 2010, so there’s enough to keep you off the streets for a while and hanging around the local shopping precinct. But look, you can dip in and you can dip out too.

There's all the great trends, events, and drama you’d expect, all set in the context and attitudes of their time; and on that same vein, as often as possible, the series takes some time to set England’s history in the context of her neighbours and the shared culture of Europe. The great and the good are there, because that’s important, but we also walk the highways and byways of ordinary lives and hear their voices - religion, culture, making a living, society and how people lived, globalisation, law - all that stuff

You can listen from start to finish; but do did in and out if you wish. Here's a guide:

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1644 opened with Charles' 'Mongrel parliament' at Oxford, and was the model of compliance. Not so at York where the noose of the Scots and Fairfax tightened around York. Enter Rupert, stage Lancashire, a whirlwind of violent destruction,. To meet Leven's parliamentarian army at Marston Moor, for the biggest showdon on English soil. 

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The Civil Wars used to be thought of as a rather neighbourly affair, not like those brutal foreign wars. But it's become clear that there was far more death and destruction than just the major battles, and the disruption of the war probably touched every family.

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Between a quarter and a third of adult males up to 50 will fight in the first civil war. Most families will be affected in some way. Here is the story of those great marching armies, what kept them together, what made them effective, and how they fought

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Gavin Whitehead gives a guest episode from the Art of Crime podcast - where True crime, History and Art meet. Today - Maria Manning and the Bermondey horror. Find more from Gavin at www.artofcrimepodcast.com

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In August 1643 came one of the defining moments of the course of the Revolution - the swearing of the Solemn League and Covenant between England and Scotland. It would bring an army - and division. But for 6 months Newcaste still have a chance to take Hull and advance on London. Would he seize the opportunity?

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In July 1643 the propaganda war was in full swing, and newsheets opened up from both Oxford and London. London was rent by protests, while the royalist cause was finely fettled - in control in the North and ready from the west to launch another assault to London. Only Gloucester stood in the way. 

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Margaret Cavendish was an extraordinary figure - a refugee from her native Essex, become courtier, Duchess of Newcastle, Natural Philosopher trading blows with the Royal Society, author and public celebrity. Professor Oakes talks to me about her life and why she is so important. You can also follow an extended series of her life by becoming a shedcaster, at Become a Member – The History of England.

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By April it was clear Charles expected to reduce his kingdoms to obedience by war, and would not make peace. By July his cause would be tested at Chalgrove, Adwalton - and Roundway Down.

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Early 1643 was not a good idea for peace. By April, both the Scots and English parliament had tired of Charles' negotiating style and started talking to each other instead. But for Charles it was a happy time. His Queen, Generalissima of the North, had landed in Bridlington, and made it to Oxford, bringing arms and news of her capture of Burton on Trent

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Strafford's death did not achieve the objective of clearing the path to agreement between king and subject - instead it hardened hearts, and started the clock of war ticking

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Violence had spread by the end of 1642; despite the King's failure at Turnham Green, multiple armies now swept England, in Ireland the Confederate Association was formed at Kilkenny and the Exiles. And yet still England hoped for peace. 

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After Edgehill, the road to London lay open for the kong. By November 13th, Charles' army faced the Londoners on the common ground west of London at Turnham Green

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Charles' situation in August looked dire. But at Shrewsbury, soldiers came to his call, arms reached him from Henrietta Maria, and in October he had an army, and set of to march on London. In his way stood Essex and the army of parliament

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A general sense of disbelief that war was necessary persisted well into 1643. And yet, over time most were forced to make choices. this episdoe about what made them choose, as Charles raises his standard at Nottingham, on 22nd August 1642

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Charles' flight from the capital gave the separation into two camps physical form. Now King and Parliament began to lay out their stall, why their cause was just. And parliament acquires their philosopher.

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In 1640 at last Charles is forced to call a parliament and search with parliament for an accomodation. But Charles was to discover the price for restoring order not to his liking. 

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From 1629 Charles tried to rule without parliament; either a Personal rule of peace and prosperity, or the 11 Years Tyranny, depending on your point of view. By 1638 there plenty of kindling had been placed around the tree of hte Commonwealth, but no sign of a fire.

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In 1625 a new, fresh, bright king came to the throne seemingly eager to giht the good fight in the Protestant cause. Surely this moderate, controlled ad courteous man would be the bringer of a golen age. Events were to throw some doubt thatthe new ways would be different from the old.

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The last 10 years of James' reign saw the rise of the king's great favourite the Duke of Buckingham, and continued friction with parliament - until the story of the knights Adventurers turned policy and politics on their head

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James I & VI was a canny politician helped by a master administrator in Salisbury. But the honeymoon was over with scandals at his court, and the failure to establish a good relationship with Parliament. 

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William Clark of the Grey History podcast on the French Revolution discusses how British reactions changed to the French Revolution, and two great opponents of political philosophy - Edmund Birke and Thomas Paine

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From his return to London in November 1641, Charles and his courtiers built a party in parliament; moderates believed enough was enough, and feared the growing radicalism and social upheaval. Six days would define England's future. 

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In an atmosphere of panic caused by news of a massive Irish uprising, the struggle for reform met it’s greatest challenge in the attempt to pass the Grand Remonstrance.

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The dawn of the Stuart age of Britain came within a European context of the growing strength of the nation state, absolutism, relgious conflict and war. And James arrival as the new king was welcomed, and started well.

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Many MPs began to think enough had been done. Charles meanwhile had decided he would never compromise with the Junto; now he would defeat them at their own game. The king would build a party of loyalists.

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In a time of national danger and an explosion of print and debate, the Protestation Oath of 1641 was a remarkable act of nation building. But it's success did nothin to divert Charles' closest advisers, the Queen and Edward Nicholas from the plan to build a royalist party.

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After Strafford, the idea of a genuine compromise was probably dead. Either king or Parliament would need to find a way to force the other into acceptance of their world view. Both had plans as to how this could be achieved

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Eleanor and Matin discuss folk traditions across England for the day, including the Bideford Foot Race, then dig into the stories of England’s largest county – from the Harrying of the North and the Pilgrimage of Grace to Mother Shipton, the mysteries of the Wold Newton Triangle, and much, much more.

After that, it’s time for the main event: Martin’s telling of The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft, an account of fairies heard during a witch trial at York Assizes in the 1640s.

The Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon. Released weekly, each episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area. Then, and most importantly, Martin and Eleanor take turns to each week tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...

Learn more at the Three Ravens website

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As opposition to reform gathered in parliament and the king plotted to regain control, all came down to Strafford. Would the architect and executor of the king's party survive? Or fall, and his master's authority with it?

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Charles' response to the Scottish Declaration was severe; but it also caused a division in the Junto, and among MPs. Meanwhile, as poublic religious debate exploded, divisions also grew between Presbyterians and Independants.

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Francis Russell, Earl of Bedford believed that an accommodation could be reached with Charles - a amoderate agreement that would preserve the king's honour but provide a lasting reform. And early in 1641, an agreement was within grasp.

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This is the story of how Eleanor of Aquitane's choices helped create an Empire is Wesern Europe. And to persaude you to suppot the podcast through membership at https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/become-a-member

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The Parliament that convened in November 1641 would define Charles' reign. He would have to offer some concessions. but who would define their extent? The sympathetic royalist MPs, the moderate Reformers - or the Radical members of the Junto? And Charles still had Strafford at his side, breathing fire.

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Charles and his Privy Council stretched life and limb to equip and pay for a new army to pull the king out of this fire. The Junto and Scots did everything they could to keep him in it. The result came in at Newburn.

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As an exhausted king arrived back in Whitehall, his view had not changed one whit - the Scots must be taught a lesson and returned to obedience. More ,money raising ventures followed, but it was quickly clear that only one could solve the problem - parliament

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'I expect not anything can reduce that people to obedience but force only'Charles wrote to Hamilton in 1638, and the actions of the General Assembly of the Kirk had made probably made it inevitable. And sure the combined might of England, Ireland and Royalist Scots could do the job. Wentworth certainly thought so. 

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Series 8 covers the English Revolution - and the British Revolutions, 1638-1660 - or at least that's the plan! After a brief overview o fSeries 8, we go north and against sage advice, Charles was determined to bring Scottish and English churches into harmony, by introducing a Scottish Book of Common prayer, and Canons. When the new service was to be used on 23rd July 1638, opponents were prepared. Daur ye say Mass in my lug? asked Jenny Geddes.

Series 8, it is planned, will cover the English Revolutions - within the context of the Three Kingdoms, of course. At the time of writing (episode 394) we have

369 - 376When the hope of a peaceful compromise still seemed possible; a hope which died with Strafford. There is an At A Gallop epsides on 1638 - 1641 too

377 -383Is about the last desperate efforts, the slide into war, and the ar of words

384+Is about the shooting war, the first civil war to 1646

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In 1633 Thomas Wentworth arrived in Ireland - and despite great administrative efficiency, managed to separately outrage each of the components of Irish Society Meanwhile in London, William Prynne and John Lilburne stood form against tyranny.

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The colonists that traveled to New England were very different to the Chesapeake, and the society they established also very different. For the indigenous peoples, the shock would be every bit as severe.

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Colonisation of the Chesapeake would be driven by its climate and its most successful crop - tobacco, defining the social structure of the colonists and the society they would form, and the impact the would have on the indigenous peoples.

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'By what right?' In this episode we think about how the early English colonisers viewed their Westward Enterprise, and legitimised their activities. And then turn to the region Eric Williams described as 'The Hub of Empire'. The Caribbean.

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The 1630's saw an acceleration of English colonisation in the Americas. What cultures and peoples will they meet when they get there? A horribly brief survey of cultures north of the Rio Grande before the English came.

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With Parliament banished, there was little restraint on Laud and Charles to implement the reforms they felt were needed to improve the quality of religious observations and the spiritual wealth of all English. Not everyone would approve their efforts.

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The Ship Money in 1637-8 was a courtroom battle sought for by both the king, and Hampden and the 'Warwick house' faction, where battle lines were clearly drawn, in the bright light of public fascination and scrutiny. 

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Charles had done the right thing of we wanted to avoid parliaments - reducing costs by making peace. But, how was he to raise money to clear that £2m debt? Well, two words came in to play - many, and various. 

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Relationships with the other kingdoms was definitely the royal preserve. But policy options might vary, from favouring the desires of his protestant subjects, to the Spanish faction on the privy Council. But his clout was always hampered by the poor state of the Royal Navy

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Charles was determined to run his court completely differently to his father. Controlled, regulated, ordered; an example of a warm, loving and enlightened household that would prove an example of the majesty and stability of his reign.

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Was it an 'Eleven years tyranny' or 'Halcyon Days' that followed 1629? Either way, foreign ambassadors were not hopeful of England's future. But Charles first priority was to reduce the Vipers of parliament to submission.

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Dramatic events in 1628 - a dramatic murder, and one of the great set pieces of the English Revolution. Mayhem! Treason! Murder!

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As so often, war demands money, and in England, money meant parliament. So the outcome of 'The Favourites' War', Buckingham's attempt to relieve La Rochelle in 1627, would be critical.

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English place names are a direct window in into the lives of our ancestors - an insight into the origins or remarkable features of ancient settlements. Here's a brief survey of how to decode some of them.  

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The battle of Lutter in 1626 convinced Charles of the tearing need to intervene in the Thirty Years War in defence of hos sister Elizabeth's rights and in the cause of Protestantism. But the cupboard was bare - how to raise money? Without calling that pesky parliament!

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The 1626 parliament was opened by William Laud - not a good sign for the resolutely Calvinist parliament. Despite a remarkably positive response to the call for subsidies - their linkage to resolutions of grievances did not go down well with Charles

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As the 1626 parliament opens, full of hope once more, we take a while to introduce William Laud, and discuss the idea that a theme of the English civil wars is an ideological struggle between lawyers and Arminian clerics

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The reconvened parliament in Oxford went poor, and after a month Charles closed it down, and concentrated instead on the Spanish war. Surely, the recapturing the glory of Drake & Hawkins would relight Parliament's fire for war!

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For Charles I, April to June 1625 was his like the honeymoon period given to new football managers - enthusiastic full of hope - and often depressingly brief. The honeymoon period with his newly arrived wife Henrietta Maria, was similarly brief.

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In March 1625 Charles came into his inheritance on the death of his father. Was it a poison chalice or the holy grail? What sort of man accepted the chalice and duty and would place his hands on the tillers of the Three Kingdoms? 

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The Results of the poll - and Prize winners announced! Then HiT review of Cromwell the 970 film starring Richard Harris and Alec Guiness. Massive in scale and ambition, in its attempt to present Oliver as a democratic hero of the people. Does it manage it?

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The Elizabeth and Jacobean age was a time of social mores and the way England was ruled - and the great medieval household withered away. To leave something smaller, more symmetrical - and of extraordinary beauty. And then there's also Little Moreton Hall, a gentry interpretation of the Great Rebuilding.

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