Republic: Britain's revolutionary decade, 1649-1660

Hunt, Alice (2024) Republic: Britain's revolutionary decade, 1649-1660 , London. Faber and Faber, 472pp.

Abstract

Events moved with giddying speed in the 1650s. After the public execution of Charles I, ‘dangerous’ monarchy was abolished and the House of Lords was dismissed. These revolutionary acts sent shock waves across the kingdom and the continent. They set in motion a decade of bewildering change and instability for the new republic, under the leadership of the soldier-statesman Oliver Cromwell.

But amid the tumult came innovation and opportunity. Previously unthinkable ideas about sovereignty and liberty were debated and implemented. The Quakers were formed, Jews lived and worshipped freely, and philosophers talked radical politics in coffee houses. Ordinary men and women devoured the first newspapers, and experimental scientists scrutinised the world in wholly new ways.

England’s unique and distinctive republican experiment may have been short-lived, but it changed the course of British history. It transformed the relationship between England, Scotland and Ireland, reset the compact between the monarch and the people, and re-fashioned the story the British told — and continue to tell — about themselves. It is often said that Britain is not suited temperamentally to a republic. But, as this book vividly demonstrates, this country’s institutions and political life are rooted in its republican past.

This record has no associated files available for download.

Contributors

Download statistics