Following the execution of the king in 1649, the new Commonwealth and then Oliver Cromwell set out to drive forward a puritan reformation of manners. They wanted to reform the church and its services, enforce the Sabbath, suppress Christmas, and spread the gospel. They sought to impose a stern moral discipline to regulate and reform sexual behaviour, drinking practices, language, dress, and leisure activities ranging from music and plays to football.
England's Culture Wars explores how far this agenda could be enforced, especially in urban communities which offered the greatest potential...

In this book Capp explores the nature and role of the navy during the English Revolution. After the king's execution in 1649, the navy's leadership was drastically remodelled, with republican and Puritan outsiders being brought into key positions. Capp examines the fleet's part in the political history of the period, both domestic and international, and its intervention in the critical months before the Restoration. He also surveys the navy's social life--the characteristics of the officers and seamen, volunteers and the press gang, as well as the mental world of the 17th-century...