"To Settle The Crown - Waging Civil War in Shropshire, " Topic

…1642-1648

"While the First, or 'Great', English Civil War of 1642-6 was largely contested at regional and county level, in often hard-fought and long-lasting local campaigns, historians often still continue to dwell on the well-known major battles, such as Edgehill and Naseby, and the prominent national leaders. To help redress this imbalance, To Settle The Crown: Waging Civil War in Shropshire, 1642-1648 provides the most detailed bipartisan study published to date of how the war was actually organized and conducted at county level. This book examines the practicalities, the 'nuts and bolts', of contemporary warfare by reconstructing the war effort of Royalists and Parliamentarians in Shropshire, an English county on the borderland of Wales – a region that witnessed widespread fighting. Shropshire was contested during the First Civil War – when it became one of the most heavily garrisoned counties in England and Wales – and experienced renewed conflict during the Second Civil War of 1648…"

Full review here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Has anybody here read this book yet? Is it worth buying?

I've had it a while, but have only just had time to read it.

It is very good if you are interested in recreating the struggle for an English county as a campaign or background to a battle, as it deals with raising troops; paying – or not! – for quarters; levying contributions on civilians; garrisone; intelligence gathering and so on.

It does not provide a chronological narrative of events in Shropshire, nor tactical descriptions of engagements and sieges.