The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England

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Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? Of course I knew about the stunning execution of King Charles in the Banqueting House, which I have had the opportunity to tour in the past decade after a recent restoration, and I knew about Oliver Cromwell's everyman reign. But I wanted to learn more about the drivers behind these great events. And Healey's history open my eyes to a century of much broader and deeper change than I had imagined. "[The] gentry and middling sort were becoming more engaged with law, politics,and government. It meant that any ruler, or administration, that wanted to succeed in governing England would have to work with and through these groups." (p. 39). Although the "age of revolution" in America and France was a century in the future, the ferment was rising in England now, driven in part by rising literacy and an explosion in the publishing of pamphlets for popular consumption. "There are just over 600 surviving titles per year in the 1630s. . . . In 1641, there are 2,042" (p. 145), driving the "politicisation of the English population" (p. 171) in a "clash of ideologies, as often as not between members of the same class." (p. 182) Jonathan Healey’s The Blazing World is a new political history of 17th Century England, a time of unprecedented revolutionary upheaval in politics, society, religion and the economy. It was the era of the Stuarts, when monarchs were held accountable for the first time to the law and the people. A time of revolution - or, more correctly, revolution(s), when the world seemed perpetually ablaze. Religious extremism and movements such as Puritanism were bumping up against modernism and free thinking, superstition was clashing with science. It was a time of trade and social & economic development, and also a time of war as England became embroiled in continental conflicts. It was in the 17th century that the foundations of the Imperialism and Industrial Revolution of the centuries to come were laid. An admirably even-handed account . . . For those new to the subject, Healey's retelling is exemplary It was a century of Guy Fawkes and Oliver Cromwell, of kings executed and monarchy restored, of Parliaments extended and prorogued for years, of witches tried and religious sects tortured and tolerated. If was a world, in short, in literal revolution, a world turned upside down as the British 17th century has been called in history and song. I was curious to learn more about the period based on an essay on 17th century Puritanism by Marianne Robinson in her 5-star classic What are we doing here?.

Did you ever wonder what happened after Queen Elizabeth I died after a long reign but did not have an heir? Did you ever wonder what happened to King Charles I and King Charles II? If you have wondered about these questions, then this book is for you. Jonathan Healey has written a one volume history of England from the coming of King James I, who succeeded Elizabeth I, through the Civil War and the execution of Charles I. There followed the Commonwealth under Cromwell and the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II. The history concludes with the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688, with the ouster of James II out of concerns regarding absolutism and the reestablishment of Catholicism, and the subsequent establishment of William and Mary on the throne. It wasn't made any easier by whoever was sitting on the throne either side of the republic. James I, a Protestant with a Catholic mother, had to deal with the aftermath of the Catholic terrorist Gunpowder Plot early in his reign which set the anti Catholic tone for years to come. However, Protestant Charles I was married to a Catholic and as Jonathan Healey writes, veered towards Catholic tradition, wanting parishioners to "stand for the Creed and the Gloria, kneel at the sacrament and bow at the name of Jesus." The restoration king - Charles II, for all his public upholding of Protestantism, was baptised a Catholic shortly before his death. His brother James II was already a Catholic but promised to "defend and support" the church of England. Protestants hoped the king and queen's tragic inability to produce a child who would live long enough to become monarch would mean the throne returning to a Protestant after his death. But such hope was confounded with the birth of James, who by rights should have become the next king of England and restoring a Catholic succession. It was something the fledgling Protestants could not stomach, hence the Glorious Revolution and the invitation to William and Mary to invade England from the Netherlands. James II ended up deposed and a law passed that never again will the king or queen be a Catholic. Despite that act still law today, Britain's leading Catholic, Cardinal Vincent Nichols was still happy to pay homage to Charles III at his coronation.The main population still lived in the countryside though industrialisation was just beginning with Newcastle coal being shipped to London. The British Empire was beginning to take off and at home the great stone buildings were replacing the wooden structures of Tudor England. Charles I was a disaster. He triggered a civil war. He was captured and beheaded by Parliament. For the next 11 years there was no King. England was ruled by Parliament and then by Oliver Cromwell, acting as a "Protector". The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer brings to life the most intriguing woman in the history of the world: Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt.

I found this book fascinating and at times quite moving. It was a great insight into how society shaped democracy as we know it today. It documents the struggles for democracy and the many attempted forms of this. And makes very clear that absolute power corrupts absolutely, whether monarchy or republic. It sets out the twists and turns of history and the impact they made. To the extent there is any overarching theme emerging from the book, it is that the Civil War wasn't just about religion – people were also motivated by deeply held beliefs about the constitution and the accountability of those in power to those they ruled. In that sense, the book is a subtle nod towards the original Whig interpretation of events in seventeenth century England (but with due regard given to the importance of religion). One thing I took from this book was how ideas that were quite radical for the time (such as suffrage for all adult males, or something close to it) were discussed and taken seriously (by some within the Parliamentarian side) during the Civil War (for example, at the Putney Debates of 1647). Dross and dung Healey’s enthusiasm and love for the period is clear. Thanks to the explosion of published material of the time, there is a wealth of surviving pamphlets, manuscripts, diaries and documents forming a treasure trove of material for scholars such as Healey to delve into. This was the first century to provide such riches for it’s future historians. Jonathan Healey's book reveals how Britain was in a state of flux in the 17th century. Its people were still very primitive and violent with fabricated witch trials and executions commonplace. Vengeance was still in charge - Healey writes how after the monarchy was restored, Charles II had Cromwell's body dug up, his head chopped off and placed on a pike at Westminster for thirty years.Charles I was king, and his belief in his divine right to rule came into direct conflict with a variety of constituencies within Parliament that insisted a king must prove himself a “lawful magistrate” of his realm. Some groups were more radical than others, but all agreed ultimate sovereignty lay with the people. Any ruler who hoped to reign needed to accept this new political consciousness. Charles I refused and paid for it with his head. Healey’s book is refreshing for its energetic writing, engaging wit and sound foundation in recent historical scholarship. . . . Rather than advancing a new interpretation, Healey captures the vitality and turbulence of 17th-century England in an effective retelling, with many more players than the typical cast of kings and queens. . . . While narrating this tempestuous past, Healey has an eye on the present. He regards key stages in the political and intellectual history of revolutionary England as ‘steps on a longer journey’ toward modern democracy. . . . This readable and informative overview evokes a lost world which, for better or worse, ‘was blazing a path toward our own.’” —David Cressy, The New York Times