The Seventeenth Century

The Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland in 1603 dramatically changed the nature and level of interaction between the constituent parts of the British Isles, and over the course of the century that followed the seismic shocks of constitutional revolutions and civil wars were felt in each one of thee very different kingdoms that had been forced together under one king. The chapters in this volume, each written by a leading scholar of the period, analyze in turn the response to the Union of 1603, the religious controversies under the early Stuarts, the Civil War, Commonwealth, and Restoration periods, and the social and economic context within which these developments took place. The final chapter then looks at the vibrant cultural interaction between the kingdoms of the British Isles in the seventeenth century, which stands in sharp contrast to the political, religious, and social doubts and fears that permeated the period. Throughout, the book maintains a careful balance, focusing on the ways in which the various tensions within each individual kingdom came together, whilst at the same time looking beyond the confines of any one of the kingdoms and recognizing their interlinking "British"impact.

Jenny Wormald is an Honorary Fellow in Scottish History at the University of Edinburgh. She was previously a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Hilda's College. Her publications include Mary, Queen of Scots (Tauris Parke 2000), Court, Kirk and Community (Edinburgh University Press, 1991) and her volume on The Seventeenth Century in the Hutchinson History of Britain Series is forthcoming.