Henry Reece. The Army in Cromwellian England, 1649–1660

Rarely does the “gamekeeper” choose to become the “game.” Henry Reece, formerly chief executive of Oxford University Press, risks such a role reversal by publishing a doctoral dissertation–based book about the English army twenty-seven years after it was promised for delivery to the press. The army that brought victory to Parliament and defeat to the royalists in 1645 did not disband. It was needed elsewhere in the Stuart kingdoms to pacify England in the event of conspiratorial risings. Thus, from 1646 until the return of the Stuart monarchy in 1660, England endured a standing army as a fixture of daily life. The intrusion of “Roundhead” warriors into a community sometimes precipitated contention. Soldiers agitated civilians by sponsoring ministers whose religious views diverged from those of the local clergy and laity. However, for the most part the army and locality learned to accommodate themselves to the much sought after if uneasy peace that descended upon England after the regicide of 1649. Military officers and town elites generally avoided invading the others' bailiwicks and compromised when addressing mutual concerns, such as the collection of tithes and taxes, the repair of town walls, and the invigoration of commerce. Garrisons wove themselves into the sociopolitical fabric of towns and villages.

Ancient history · Battle · Monarchy · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Victory · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law