The Roundheads

by Jasper Ridley

The Roundheads

Genres: History

276 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 1976

About the author

Jasper Ridley was a British writer, known for historical biographies. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and the Sorbonne. He trained and practiced as a barrister, before starting to write. During World War II, he was a conscientious objector and was, by his own account, violently abused while in a detention camp. He served on St Pancras Borough Council from 1945 to 1949, and stood, unsuccessfully, as Labour Party candidate for Winchester in 1955 general election.

Reviews

[Marc W · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a terrific book. Ridley describes the leaders of the Roundheads, those who fought for Parliament during the English Civil War. The amazing part of this book is that this group were not the best or the brightest of their era, but they were committed to stopping the absolute rule of Charles I. It is this group who will trigger the end to absolute rule in England for centuries to come. This period in history has been swept under the rug---mostly by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Gilbert Sheldon, who, from 1660-1675 obliterated any trace of the ideas of the Interregnum While Charles II pretended to support freedom for the religious independents, he was a closet Catholic. His support for allowing freedom of religion was a sham. John Locke once recommended that his readers should study Algernon Sidney's work, and then he writes that he had never read them!! So, this group of men represent the leaders of the most profound revolution in our history, which led to major changes in the governing of England, and for all the world. Ridley’s descriptions an account of these leaders is a delight to read and to learn from. This is a must read.