Recollection in the Republics : Memories of the British Civil Wars in England, 1649-1659

Following the execution of Charles I in January 1649, England's fledgling republic was faced with a dilemma: which parts of the nation's bloody recent past should be remembered, and how, and which were best consigned to oblivion? Across the country, the state's opponents, local communities, and individual citizens were grappling with many of the same questions, as calls for remembrance vied with the competing goals of reconciliation, security, and the peaceful settlement of the state. __Recollection in the Republics__ provides the first comprehensive study of the ways Britain's Civil Wars were remembered in the decade between the regicide and the restoration. Drawing on a wide-ranging and innovative source base, it places the national authorities' attempts to shape the meaning of the recent past alongside evidence of what the English people - lords and labourers, men and women, veterans and civilians - actually were remembering. __Recollection in the Replublics__ demonstrates that memories of the domestic conflicts were central to the politics and society of England's republican interval, inflecting national and local discourses, complicating and transforming inter-personal relationships, and infusing and forging individual and collective identities. In so doing, it enhances our understanding of the nature of early modern memory and the experience of post-civil war states more broadly. Memory was a multifaceted, dynamic resource, and this book emphasises its fecundity, the manifold meanings it possessed, and the creativity of those who deployed it. Further, by situating 1650s England in relation to other post-conflict societies, both within and beyond early modernity, it points to a consistency in some of the challenges that have confronted post-civil war states across time and space. Cover 1 Recollection in the Republics: Memories of the British Civil Wars in England, 1649–1659 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Acknowledgements 8 Contents 10 List of Figures 12 List of Abbreviations and Conventions 14 Introduction 16 1: Republican Recollections 28 1.1. ‘The author of England’s calamity’: History, Memory, and the Causes of the Civil Wars 29 1.2. ‘Great Deliverances’: Providence and Civil War Memory 39 1.3. ‘To propagate their Just odium to all posteritys’: Memories of the Scots 52 1.4. Remembering—and Forgetting—Civil War Service 61 1.5. Conclusion 69 2: Rival Recollections 70 2.1. Martyrdom and Memory 72 2.2. Peace and Puritanism: (Re)assigning Responsibility for the Civil Wars 85 2.3. ‘Toil, treasure, and blood’: The Wars in Radical Rhetoric 98 2.4. Conclusion 109 3: Memories in Everyday Discourse 111 3.1. Reputation and Resistance: Speaking of Civil War Service 113 3.2. ‘A Malignant in his harte’: Regulation, Remembrance, and the Limits of Reconciliation 120 3.3. From Edgehill to Execution: Memories of Civil War Events 131 3.4. Conclusion 141 4: Places of Memory 143 4.1. ‘A City Assaulted by Man but saved by God’: Local Commemorations 145 4.2. ‘An Epitaph of Rubbish’: Description, Destruction, and Memory 160 4.3. Monuments and Memorials 169 4.4. Conclusion 179 5: Narratives of War 180 5.1. ‘I am engaged to vindicate my Honour’: Self-Fashioning and Forgetting in Military Memoirs 182 5.2. ‘Stript, plundered, lamed, and imprisoned’: Maimed Soldiers’ Stories 190 5.3. Women’s Words: The Tales of Parliamentarian War Widows 199 5.4. Conclusion 206 Conclusion 208 Bibliography 218 Manuscripts 218 Pamphlets and Newsbooks 220 Printed Editions 220 Secondary Material 223 Online Sources 235 Index 236 "Following the execution of Charles I in January 1649, England's fledgling republic was faced with a dilemma: which parts of the nation's bloody recent past should be remembered, and how, and which were best consigned to oblivion? Across the country, the state's opponents, local communities, and individual citizens were grappling with many of the same questions, as calls for remembrance vied with the competing goals of reconciliation, security, and the peaceful settlement of the state. Recollection in the Republics provides the first comprehensive study of the ways Britain's Civil Wars were remembered in the decade between the regicide and the restoration. Drawing on a wide-ranging and innovative source base, it places the national authorities' attempts to shape the meaning of the recent past alongside evidence of what the English people--lords and labourers, men and women, veterans and civilians--actually were remembering. It demonstrates that memories of the domestic conflicts were central to the politics and society of the republican interval, inflecting national and local discourses, complicating and transforming interpersonal relationships, and infusing and forging individual and collective identities. In so doing, it enhances our understanding of the nature of early modern memory and the experience of post-civil war states more broadly"--Publisher's description Following the execution of Charles I in January 1649, England's fledgling republic was faced with a dilemma: which parts of the nation's bloody recent past should be remembered, and how, and which were best consigned to oblivion? Across the country, the state's opponents, local communities, and individual citizens were grappling with many of the same questions, as calls for remembrance vied with the competing goals of reconciliation, security, and the peaceful settlement of the state. This book provides a comprehensive study of the ways Britain's Civil Wars were remembered in the decade between the regicide and the restoration. Drawing on a wide-ranging and innovative source base, it places the national authorities' attempts to shape the meaning of the recent past alongside evidence of what the English people - lords and labourers, men and women, veterans and civilians - actually were remembering