The World Turned Upside Down - The British Civil Wars 1638-1651

By the summer of 1647, Parliament had won the First Civil War. At the battles of Naseby and Langport, the New Model Army had crushed the Royalist field armies and the King himself was now their prisoner. But all was not well on the parliamentary side. There was disquiet and dissatisfaction in the New Model’s ... Read more

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, Parliament began a search for religious uniformity and the final completion of the Reformation begun by Henry VIII. Their aims were defined in the Grand Remonstrance which insisted that religious conformity was vital to England’s future and insisted that the whole church should be reformed. For many ... Read more

In the eyes of many Protestants, the religious Reformation begun by Henry VIII after 1534 was unfinished. It resulted in a Protestant Church of England, with a level of ritual and teachings which left the doors open to the reinstatement of Catholic practices. Against this backdrop, the actions of Charles I after his accession in ... Read more

The Tudor Reformation resulted in widespread dissatisfaction. Many Protestants considered the Reformation unfinished as the established Church of England retained some of the rights and practices of Catholic worship. Meanwhile, Catholics were oppressed and marginalised. Scotland was similarly divided between strict Protestants, (Calvinists) and staunch Catholics, while in Ireland most of the population was Catholic, ... Read more

While Christian belief was universal throughout the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland there were fundamental and deeply held differences in worship. The Tudor Reformation of the 16th century had never been completed. Within England these discontented groups of Catholics in 1605 had come close to destroying King and Parliament in the Gunpowder Plot. ... Read more

While the setting, processes and personnel of the trial of Charles I may appear less important than the interchanges between the king and the President of the Court, John Bradshaw, they are critical to revealing the wider purpose of Charles’ trial which was to establish the Commons as the supreme authority in England, as the ... Read more

Bringing the British Civil Wars to the classroom through highly interactive programmes including films, slides, 3D scans of museum objects, audio clips and more. Four modules focussing on: Soldiers Sieges Spies Survivors Created with classroom teachers and academic historians for KS2 learners.

The battle of Naseby finally destroyed the field army of the King and in two hours changed the history not only of Britain, but every modern democracy. We know that about 1000 Royalists were killed and a further 5000 were marched off to captivity. However, like most battles prior to the modern era, the fate of ... Read more

At first sight the quiet green fields around the small Northamptonshire village of Naseby seem unexceptional. But look more closely and you find clues that a momentous event occurred here which was to shape the history not only of Britain but every modern democracy. Because it was here, in just two hours on the morning ... Read more

It is often said that there was nothing ‘civil’ about the British Civil Wars. This was not the story of dashing Cavaliers and God-fearing Roundheads fighting battles in fields far from the civilian population. In reality, this was a bloody and brutal, all-encompassing conflict which left no community or family untouched and which left an ... Read more

“Turncoat!” The word creates immediate images of traitors, renegades and defectors… here is a person who places self-interest above the well-being or safety of comrades-in-arms, and so switches sides irrespective of the resulting harm it does to the Cause. Betrayed comrades react with contempt and demand harsh sanctions, even a gruesome traitor’s death, while the ... Read more

The Civil Wars changed the lives of families all across the British Isles, and inevitably children became involved not only as passive bystanders, but also as child soldiers fighting in both the Royalist and Parliamentary armies. Civil War historian, Dr Ismini Pells, a Departmental Lecturer in Local and Social History at the University of Oxford, ... Read more

The British Civil Wars touched every man, woman and child in Britain and its effects were felt for decades after the conflict ended in 1652. During the conflict, thousands of men were left maimed, women widowed and children orphaned. They were desperate for help from successive Republican regimes, the Protectorate that followed and subsequently from ... Read more

In this interview, Dr. Ismini Pells reveals that PTSD in veterans is not a new problem. She discusses the psychological impact that can be seen in the men who fought in the Civil Wars.

Charles I was executed on 30 January 1649 on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House, Whitehall. In this talk Professor Edward Vallance asks whether his condemnation and death were the pre-determined outcome of his trial or was the king’s death the result of demands for justice from the Parliamentarian army and its civilian supporters. He ... Read more

This podcast discusses the range of factors which caused the defeat of the royalists in England and Wales during the First Civil War of 1642-1646. Its themes range from royalist structural weaknesses, their shortages of manpower and resources, to defeat in battle and the withdrawal of civilian support from the royalist cause. The decisive role of ... Read more

While many potential causes of the British Civil Wars have been identified, from social and economic pressures to religious division, in this talk Professor Edward Vallance focuses on the degree to which the king himself was responsible for the conflict. Few historians think that Charles I was a highly competent monarch. However, the main difference ... Read more

By the 1640s, Parliament was at the very centre of British history. The accession of Charles the First to the throne in 1625 began a bitter rivalry for dominance with a King whose political and religious views brought him into head-to-head conflict with an increasingly assertive Parliament. For two decades, Civil War, Regicide, a Republic ... Read more

Professor Peter Gaunt describes the changing historiography from contemporary historians of the seventeenth century to the discussions of modern academics. He suggests that there probably was no single cause of the conflict, but an intertwining of multiple factors, made more compatible by socioeconomics and religious attitudes, a constitution which fostered uncertainty and a monarch who ... Read more

As Professor Peter Gaunt describes, short-lived regimes rapidly followed each other as different political and religious factions struggled for supremacy. Meanwhile the Army was engaged in the bloody and costly conquest of Ireland and a bitter war in Scotland, which supported King Charles II. Finally in December 1653, the Army’s leadership – the Grandees – ... Read more

Professor Peter Gaunt goes beyond the major set-piece battles such as Marston Moor and Naseby to explain that for most communities in England and Wales, this was a local or regional conflict of skirmishes and sieges which ebbed and flowed across the landscape. By July 1646 Parliament had completed its victory in the First Civil ... Read more

There is no simple, single answer but as Professor Peter Gaunt explains, deep religious differences and increasing religious extremism divided the communities and countries and made the monarch’s goal of a united church a dangerous dream. Social and economic pressures, constitutional uncertainty and a King whose character rejected compromise were a recipe that left a ... Read more

An introductory step-by-step guide to the causes, conflicts and consequences of the British Civil Wars. With Professor Peter Gaunt in three 30-minute podcasts. Coming 1st June 2023.

The World Turned Upside Down is a new unique resource telling the stories of the people, events and ideas of the British Civil Wars, which are explored by leading historians. These programmes include fortnightly audio podcasts, in which – with the help of professional actors – explain how these turbulent times shaped the Britain we ... Read more