Subjects
Electing Cromwell:
The Making of a Politician
Andrew Barclay
Political and Popular Culture in the Early Modern Period
978 1 84893 018 6: 234x156mm: £60.00/$99.00
978 1 84893 019 3
Popular interest in Cromwell has often exceeded the originality of what has been written about him. Barclay’s study comes out of meticulous research on a huge range of newly discovered primary sources, transforming our understanding of the life and career of Oliver Cromwell during the period from his birth in 1599 until 1642. Barclay offers important new interpretations of such episodes as Cromwell’s election as MP for Cambridge in 1640 to both the Short and Long Parliaments; his possible attendance and preaching at a fenland conventicle during the 1630s; and his controversial involvement in the politics surrounding plans for fen drainage. He arrives at conclusions which provoke fresh ways of looking at Cromwell, Cromwellian historiography and the national mood in 1640.
Whilst this is undoubtedly a study of Cromwell’s life, it is by no means simply a biography. Barclay’s research is an exercise in historical revisionism; his study challenges preconceptions about Cromwell’s political life by reconstructing and analysing the lives of many of those around him as a way of shedding light on the central individual. The wide-ranging nature of this scholarly approach means that the book engages with the political, religious, urban and economic issues of the time.
Sample pages
Readership
Early Modern Studies, Politics and Social & Economic History
Contents
Preface
Part I
1 The Man from Huntingdon
2 The Biographer
3 The Fishmonger
4 The Kinsmen
5 The Nonconformists in the Fens?
Part II
6 The Drainers, the Protesters and the Bishop
7 The Ely Petitioners
8 The Two Elections of 1640
Part III
9 Another Election
10 The War Years
11 Back to the Restoration
12 Conclusion
Reviews
'Combined with the astonishing richness of Barclay’s research is the outstanding source criticism ... a must read.'
– John Morrill, History Today (read the full review here)
'This monograph constitutes a splendid example of how a startlingly original interpretation can emerge about an intensively studied figure through close readings of apparently intractable sources, carefully framed arguments, and proper use of historical imagination. Highly recommended.'
– CHOICE
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