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Rebellion: Britain's First Stuart Kings, 1567-1642
A gripping new account of one of the most important and exciting periods of British and Irish history: the reign of the first two Stuart kings, from 1567 to the outbreak of civil war in 1642 - and why ultimately all three of their kingdoms were to rise in rebellion against Stuart rule.
Both James VI and I and his son Charles I were reforming monarchs, who endeavoured to bolster the authority of the crown and bring the churches in their separate kingdoms into closer harmony with one another. Many of James's initiatives proved controversial - his promotion of the plantation of Ulster, his reintroduction of bishops and ceremonies into the Scottish kirk, and his stormy relationship with his English parliaments over religion and finance - but he just about got by. Charles, despite continuing many of his father's policies in church and state, soon ran into difficulties and provoked all three of his kingdoms to rise in rebellion: first Scotland in 1638, then Ireland in 1641, and finally England in 1642.
Was Charles's failure, then, a personal one; was he simply not up to the job? Or was the multiple-kingdom inheritance fundamentally unmanageable, so that it was only a matter of time before things fell apart? Did perhaps the way that James sought to address his problems have the effect of making things more difficult for his son? Tim Harris addresses all these questions and more in this wide-ranging and deeply researched new account, dealing with high politics and low, constitutional and religious conflict, propaganda and public opinion across the three kingdoms - while also paying due attention to the broader European and Atlantic contexts.
Both James VI and I and his son Charles I were reforming monarchs, who endeavoured to bolster the authority of the crown and bring the churches in their separate kingdoms into closer harmony with one another. Many of James's initiatives proved controversial - his promotion of the plantation of Ulster, his reintroduction of bishops and ceremonies into the Scottish kirk, and his stormy relationship with his English parliaments over religion and finance - but he just about got by. Charles, despite continuing many of his father's policies in church and state, soon ran into difficulties and provoked all three of his kingdoms to rise in rebellion: first Scotland in 1638, then Ireland in 1641, and finally England in 1642.
Was Charles's failure, then, a personal one; was he simply not up to the job? Or was the multiple-kingdom inheritance fundamentally unmanageable, so that it was only a matter of time before things fell apart? Did perhaps the way that James sought to address his problems have the effect of making things more difficult for his son? Tim Harris addresses all these questions and more in this wide-ranging and deeply researched new account, dealing with high politics and low, constitutional and religious conflict, propaganda and public opinion across the three kingdoms - while also paying due attention to the broader European and Atlantic contexts.
608 pages, Hardcover
First published January 9, 2013
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About the author
Tim Harris
11 books11 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Tim Harris received his BA, MA and PhD from Cambridge University and was a Fellow of Emmanuel College from 1983 before moving to Brown in 1986. He teaches a wide range of courses in the political, religious, intellectual, social and cultural history of early modern England, Scotland and Ireland. A social historian of politics, he has written about the interface of high and low politics, popular protest movements, ideology and propaganda, party politics, popular culture, and the politics of religious dissent during Britain's Age of Revolutions.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Tim Harris received his BA, MA and PhD from Cambridge University and was a Fellow of Emmanuel College from 1983 before moving to Brown in 1986. He teaches a wide range of courses in the political, religious, intellectual, social and cultural history of early modern England, Scotland and Ireland. A social historian of politics, he has written about the interface of high and low politics, popular protest movements, ideology and propaganda, party politics, popular culture, and the politics of religious dissent during Britain's Age of Revolutions.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 10, 2015
This is an immensely detailed study of the reigns of James I and Charles I up to the outbreak of the Civil War. Harris attempts to analyse the various tensions around religion, Charles' personal rule dispensing with Parliament and the conflicts in Ireland and Scotland. There are no easy answers as to what caused the war, but this is an excellent scrutiny of the factors involved.
July 29, 2017
Very dense and detailed, with 500 packed pages of historiographically-informed narrative, which is one reason it took me six and a half months to finish.
Harris' focus is upon the reign of James VI & I from the time of his accession to the English throne, and the reign of Charles I from his ascending the throne in 1625 until the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. Primarily an English focus, but with extensive sections devoted to Scotland and Ireland. In spite of the somewhat misleading title, Harris does not believe that the outbreak of violence in the "Wars of the Three Kingdoms" in the 1640s was inevitable, but was rather the result of short term policy decisions and the practical ineptitude of Charles I.
The book is based upon a close reading of recent work by scholars on both sides of the Atlantic, and includes an immensely helpful and lengthy section of endnotes (63 pages of rather small print, and that does not include the list of primary sources consulted, nor the "Guide for Further Reading." Thank you OUP for including these in the printed book, where there belong, and not merely directing interested readers to some obscure location on the interwebs.)
Harris' focus is upon the reign of James VI & I from the time of his accession to the English throne, and the reign of Charles I from his ascending the throne in 1625 until the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. Primarily an English focus, but with extensive sections devoted to Scotland and Ireland. In spite of the somewhat misleading title, Harris does not believe that the outbreak of violence in the "Wars of the Three Kingdoms" in the 1640s was inevitable, but was rather the result of short term policy decisions and the practical ineptitude of Charles I.
The book is based upon a close reading of recent work by scholars on both sides of the Atlantic, and includes an immensely helpful and lengthy section of endnotes (63 pages of rather small print, and that does not include the list of primary sources consulted, nor the "Guide for Further Reading." Thank you OUP for including these in the printed book, where there belong, and not merely directing interested readers to some obscure location on the interwebs.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews