Charles I: A political life (Profiles in Power) - Hardcover

Cust, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0582070341 ISBN 13: 9780582070349

Publisher: Longman, 2005

Synopsis

"This is an outstanding piece of work: not only the best life of the king yet produced, but also the most subtle and balanced synthesis of current research on the politics and religion of the reign currently in print." - BBC History Magazine

"Cust comes as close to producing a definitive account of the nature of Charles I's kingship as anyone is likely to do for a long time... We should be grateful ... for this brilliantly conceived and deeply pondered work.  It becomes a crucial point of reference, always trustworthy and enlightening" - History Today

Charles I was a complex man whose career intersected with some of the most dramatic events in English history. He played a central role in provoking the English Civil War, and his execution led to the only republican government Britain has ever known. Historians have struggled to get him into perspective, veering between outright condemnation and measured sympathy.

This biography sets out to challenge recent assessments of Charles as someone ‘unfit to be king’, and emphasises his strengths as a party leader and conviction politician. These characteristics, along with his misjudgement and mishandling of crises, played a critical role in the causes of the English Civil War. Ultimately pushing Charles' enemies into a posiiton where they had little choice but to execute him.

It is an accessible narrative of the high politics of Charles’s reign as a whole, exploring developments in Scotland and Ireland as well as England. It connects this politics with religious conflict, court culture, Renaissance ideas of monarchy and the emergence of a ‘public sphere’ of news and political debate, while also offering a reassessment of topics such as the origins of the Personal Rule, the political role of Queen Henrietta Maria and Charles’s performance as a military commander.  

About this title

Review:

'Richard Cust's new biography (is) by far the best to date... This is an outstanding piece of work: not only the best life of the king yet produced, but also the most subtle and balanced synthesis of current research on the politics and religion of the reign currently in print.'

BBC History

'Cust comes as close to producing a definitive account of the nature of Charles I's kingship as anyone is likely to do for a long time.'

'We should be grateful....for this brilliantly conceived and deeply pondered work. It becomes a crucial point of reference, always trustworthy and enlightening.'

Anthony Fletcher, History Today, May 2006

'...the most impressive aspect of the book is the way that interwoven in the narrative is a consistent, novel and coherent view of Charles the politician. What is novel about Dr. Cust’s view is that he is not content to put Charles’s political failures down simply, as many recent historians have done, to the king’s lack of political ability. His explanations are more subtle and, thus, more convincing.'

Professor Barry Coward, Birkbeck College, London; author of The Stuart Age: England1603-1714 (Longman, 2003)

From the Back Cover:

...the most impressive aspect of the book is the way that interwoven in the narrative is a consistent, novel and coherent view of Charles the politician. What is novel about Dr. Cust’s view is that he is not content to put Charles’s political failures down simply, as many recent historians have done, to the king’s lack of political ability. His explanations are more subtle and, thus, more convincing.

Professor Barry Coward, Birkbeck College, London; author of The Stuart Age: England1603-1714 (Longman, 2003)

 

Charles I was a complex man whose career intersected with some of the most dramatic events in English history. He played a central role in provoking the English Civil War, and his execution led to the only republican government Britain has ever known. Historians have struggled to get him into perspective, veering between outright condemnation and measured sympathy.

 

Richard Cust shows that Charles I was not ‘unfit to be a king’, emphasising his strengths as a party leader and conviction politician, but concludes that, none the less, his prejudices and attitudes, and his mishandling of political crises did much to bring about a civil war in Britain. He argues that ultimately, after the war, Charles pushed his enemies into a position where they had little choice but to execute him.

 

About this edition

• Publisher: Longman
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0582070341
• ISBN 13: 9780582070349
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 512