"End of the wars" Topic

Hi all. There are lots of accounts of events during the ECW, but I am struggling to find decent books about what happened at the end of the wars. Somehow we went from Monarchy to Commonwealth /Lord Protector and then into the Bill of Rights.

That must have been some process!

Could anyone recommend some sources to cover events, both military-based and Constitutionally /Parliament based.

Im very curious about how our Parliamentary system evolved, and how it reverted back to a (Constitutional) Monarchy under Charles II.

Thanks in anticipation

History Of The Commonwealth And Protectorate 4 vols S.R. Gardiner there is a lot of book here. It is more political than military.

Very topical 1815.

Indeed. Nobody does a Hard Brexit like Cromwell!

Thank you gbowen.

I found a free download of all four voumes here:

archive.org

For anybody else downloading, the Kindle file is hijacked by Google book reader as it opens, which then insists you need the premium upgrade to read the files.

So I downloaded the pdf version, with no issues.

Checking out the contents pages, I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in to this.

Thanks again for the recommendation

Nice find1815guy, also check out the Bcw Project for the main points and timeliness. bcw-project.org

I'm currently reading Antonia Fraser's "Cromwell: our chief of men" which is very good on the political machinations following the military defeats.

Gardiner is the Grandad of studies of this period, but now dated as regards interpretation/ assumptions. The 'process' involved a fair bit of accident/chance. Possibly your best starting place might be a textbook aimed at British A Level students but Blair Worden's 'English Civil Wars 1640-60' is a good introduction, though not mainly military, from a well-respected modern historian.

Arguably England didn't reach a secure 'Constitutional Monarchy' until 1688/9, but perhaps that's another thread..?

For some strange reason this now looks like a good idea:

link