The events surrounding the trial of Charles I have been remarkably understudied by historians, despite a wealth of information regarding both the proceedings and personalities involved, and contemporary responses and reactions. These essays submit one of the most momentous events in English history to rigorous scholarship, contextualise it in the light of recent historiography, not least regarding relations between the three kingdoms of Britain.

The political, social and economic changes which overtook England in the early seventeenth century were both powerful and dramatic, forcing Parliament to adapt from a medieval institution into one with authority over all facets of society. Dynastic change, union with Scotland, fiscal reform, civil war, revolution and Restoration required Parliament not only to be at work, but also to discover how to work. These studies focus on change and development in three areas: firstly, the institution of Parliament itself, exploring its growing institutional sophistication and the problems connected...

This book assesses how print culture transformed the political nation, at the level of everyday political practices, habits and thought.