I found this book fascinating, although it also evoked a certain feeling of shame about how woefully ignorant I had previously been about the period referred to as ‘The Commonwealth, following the execution of Charles I, and preceding the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In fact, I believe that most of my understanding of the role of Oliver Cromwell stems from the somewhat anodyne source of the Ladybird book about him that I was given as a very young child.

To be honest, Ladybird Books were an important part of my childhood, and a principal source of my understanding of history, not least because the company was based in Loughborough, the town in whose near hinterland I grew up. As my clearest memory of that book was the opening page which detailed how, as an infant, Cromwell had been picked up by a pet monkey that lived in the family home, and taken up on to the roof, it is perhaps not surprising that I was a little hazy on the closer detail of the Commonwealth period.

Anna Keay writes in a very clear style that is immediately accessible (if not quite as simple as that of the author of the Ladybird book), although her scholarship shines through. Rather than giving a detailed chronological account of the Commonwealth period, Keay adopts a different approach, focusing on nine individuals who had very different experiences of life during the interregnum. I was particularly intrigued by the account of the Digger movement, who attempted to farm form communal benefit on common land, but found stiff opposition from the local populace.

I also enjoyed reading about the turncoat ‘journalist’ Marchamont Nedham. The 17th Century marked the onset of the periodical, with forerunners of modern newspaper being printed and distributed throughout the capital. Having previously been an ardent advocate of the Royalist cause, to the extent that he was imprisoned by the Commonwealth, Nedham reinvented himself as the regime’s PR mouthpiece, in which guise he published the Mercurius Politicus, and essentially invented the concept of political journalism.

I had also not properly appreciated how long it was between the execution of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell’s appointment as Lord Protector. I think I had simply assumed that the latter immediately followed on from the former, whereas in fact Cromwell retained his role as leader of the Parliamentary Army, and it was not until four years after Charles’s death that he ascended to the Protectorship.

Fascinating and clear – definitely worthy of all the encomia that were strewed across its cover. ( )

You Say You Want a Revolution
Review of the William Morrow hardcover edition (March 3, 2022)

The 1650s was a time of extraordinarily ambitious political, social, economic and intellectual innovation, and it was not a foregone conclusion that the British republic would fail. But it was also a time about which a characterisation in the negative, ‘Britain without a Crown’, is relevant. The decade was defined to a significant degree by what was being rejected. Indeed part of the reason for the fall of the republic was that its protagonists agreed far more on what they did not want than what they sought in its place. Furthermore one of the republic of Britain’s enduring legacies has been as a historical cautionary tale, a ghoul summoned up at times of turmoil to deter later generations from a course of radicalism. That the United Kingdom remains a monarchy to this day is due in no small part to the events and experiences described in this book. - excerpt from the Introduction by Anna Keay.

I will sometimes travel the road not taken, when signs point to it, and get off my main course of genre fiction mixed with the occasional literary fiction and the reading in my heritage language of Estonian. So when signs appeared such as GR Friend Gumble's Yard's 5 star review of Restless Republic along with the daily news leading up to the coronation of King Charles III, I turned off the main road to delve into the time when England was a Republic between the execution of Charles I (1649) and the restoration of the monarchy with Charles II (1660).

See print graphic at https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/168...
The dustcover image of the book is cropped from the print 'Oliver Cromwell and the Royall Oake of Brittayne' (1649) by Clement Walker, which shows the Lord Protector directing the destruction of a tree representing the British Monarchy.

Keay's history is not a chronological story of the Interregnum, but instead focuses on 9 individuals who played significant roles during that time (you can see them listed in the Gumble's Yards' review linked above, so I won't relist them here). Aside from those featured characters there were plenty of curious side-paths to take as well.

I ended up reading further on such things as the brutal execution by hanging of condemned murderess Anne Greene (who was likely innocent of the accused infanticide) who came back to life before being dissected on the examination table of William Petty, whose mapping of Ireland was the main reason for his inclusion in the 9.

The savagery of the time is further displayed in the conquest of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army when an estimated half million of Irish (out of an estimated population of 2 million) died through war or starvation. It was the 'war that finished Ireland' (from the Irish: an cogadh do chriochnaigh Eire) according to the poet Seán Ó Conaill aka John O'Connell in his Tuireamh na hÉireann (English: Ireland's Lament (1657?).

This was a well written and fascinating history of a time which I knew little about. While reading, I also noted the recent publication of Jonathan Healey's The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England, 1603-1689 (published April 11, 2023) which covers an even greater portion of that era. I may follow-up further with that reading as well. ( )

I have been reading a lot of histories of seventeenth century England/Britain in the past year and this book concentrates on the twelve years from about 1648 to 1660 by exploring the lives of individuals who lived through that time and recorded their experiences, or for whom historical records can be reconstructed. Keay accepts that this is necessarily selective and also appreciates that their lives extended before and after this period, but seeks to provide a history of the period through her selected individuals’ experiences.

For me, this is history as it should be written: wide ranging, thoughtful, thought provoking and a fun read. Keay has chosen a handful of individuals to represent this period, and has made a gloriously imaginative selection.

Portrayed are:
• John Bradshaw, a solicitor from Cheshire who became president of the parliamentary commission to try king Charles I in 1649.
• Gerrard Winstanley, a failed London businessman who became the “leader” of the Digger movement (proto-communists) in 1650.
• Charlotte, Countess of Derby and her husband who was a Royalist initially withstanding seiges of their Cheshire castle, Lathom House in 1644, and later Castle Rushen on the Isle of Man in 1651.
• Marchamont Nedham, a journalist of the Royalist publication Mercurius Pragmaticus, who when imprisoned for his writings by the Republic, accepted the job of public relations for Parliament, publishing Mercurius Politicus. He became the first famous political journalist. This covers the period up to Cromwell’s military coup of Parliament in April 1653.
• Anna Trapnel, a Puritan evangelical (Fifth Monarchist), who became politicised against Cromwell’s regime despite it allowing religious toleration, as it still didn’t go far enough
• Sir Hamon L’Estrange, a country squire and owner of Norfolk’s Hunstanton House. Initially siding with the Royalists and commanding King’s Lynn, he had subsequently retired from politics and with his industrious and practical wife, had sought to buy back his estates lost through Parliamentary fines.
• William Petty, an Oxford doctor, convener of the Oxford Experimental Philosophy Society, which became the Royal Society. By being doctor to the Major General of Ireland, he learns of the plan for a survey of Ireland by professional surveyors which is to take seven years. As a practical thinker, he offers to use untrained but experienced army personnel to complete the process in thirteen months, and he successfully delivers on his commission.
• Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector. I haven’t read a biography, so the two chapters about Cromwell’s rejection of the crown and duality between his country gentleman upbringing and epiphany of radical religious convictions were succinct but enlightening.
• George Monck, a professional soldier, initially fighting for the Royalists, but after capture and imprisonment, for the Parliamentarians. After Cromwell’s death and a military takeover of Parliament (again), Monck used the army in Scotland to “defeat” by diplomacy and threat, the London military and re-establish Parliament, then the return of the monarchy.

Brilliant history. ( )