Charles I and the Road to Personal Rule

by L. J. Reeve

Overview

This study of the character and policies of Charles I provides an analysis of the political crisis leading to his personal rule in England during the years before the civil wars. It fills a gap in the historical literature of the period by integrating ideological with political developments and English with international affairs. It is also a contribution to the wider European history of a critical phase of the Thirty Years War. The book offers a new way of understanding Charles by demonstrating how ill-suited his personality was to the workings of the political world. It also argues that Charles's innovatory rule created a new pattern of national politics deeply destructive in its effects. The book gives a gripping account of the king's willingness to pervert the due process of law in dealing with his political opponents, as well as investigating his failures in religious and foreign policy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521521338
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	10/30/2003
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Early Modern British History
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.79(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. Buckingham's England in crisis; 3. The death of a Parliament; 4. The aftermath; 5. Government and justice; 6. The king, his court and its enemies; 7. Foreign policy; 8. Decision; 9. The anatomy of a political transition; Bibliography; Index.