Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and plan
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and notes
- 1 The social context
- 2 Peers and gentlemen before the Civil War
- 3 Public affairs 1620–1639
- 4 The coming of the Civil War 1639–1642
- 5 Military rule 1642–1649
- 6 Militancy and localism in Warwickshire politics 1643–1649
- 7 The impact of the Civil War
- 8 Politics and religion 1649–1662
- Appendix 1 Local governors 1620–1660
- Appendix 2 Active county committeemen 1643–1647
- Bibliography of manuscript and printed sources
- Index
5 - Military rule 1642–1649
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of maps and plan
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and notes
- 1 The social context
- 2 Peers and gentlemen before the Civil War
- 3 Public affairs 1620–1639
- 4 The coming of the Civil War 1639–1642
- 5 Military rule 1642–1649
- 6 Militancy and localism in Warwickshire politics 1643–1649
- 7 The impact of the Civil War
- 8 Politics and religion 1649–1662
- Appendix 1 Local governors 1620–1660
- Appendix 2 Active county committeemen 1643–1647
- Bibliography of manuscript and printed sources
- Index
Summary
There are stark contrasts between the experiences of Warwickshire before and after the outbreak of the Civil War. In place of the established leaders of county society who formed the commission of the peace in the 1620s and 1630s, a parliamentarian county committee, consisting of comparatively obscure men, took control of the county. The responsibilities of Warwickshire's rulers were as different as their personnel: instead of the comparative routine of the pre-1642 period they were faced with the hectic demands of military administration in a frontier area. Parliament controlled the main body of the county throughout the Civil War but its hold was always precarious: neighbouring royalist garrison continually raided Warwickshire and levied contributions on many border parishes. The county was the site of one major battle, Edgehill, and was a frequent thoroughfare for the armies of both sides. Consequently the experiences of the ruled changed as sharply as the duties of the rulers.
There are great differences, also, in the sources available for a study of the county between 1620–42 and 1642–9. For many aspects of the earlier period, the sources are inadequate but for the Civil War period the sheer bulk of material that survives for the military administration of the county creates problems in itself. There are many hundreds of letters, warrants and orders of the county committee, and many scores of working accounts of civilian officials and military commanders. Much of this material is of a random rather than systematic nature: there is, for example, just one surviving order book of the county committee, starting after the war was over, and covering sequestration business only.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Politics, Society and Civil War in Warwickshire, 1620–1660 , pp. 169 - 219Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1987