Early Stuart England

Summer 1643

The people of England read about a series of royalist plots and parliamentary defeats in a new genre of print material - the newsbook. London is torn between defeatism and a determination to see the war through.

Summer 1643

The royalists win a string of victories from Yorkshire in the north to Cornwall in the west. Charles seems poised to link up his disparate forces, and take the upper hand in the war.

1642-1643

Outnumbered and divided, the parliamentarians of Yorkshire try to prevent the royalist army of the north from linking up with the King at Oxford.

1642-3

Ralph Hopton and William Waller, two friends from their university days at Oxford, find themselves on opposite sides of the war in the West Country.

1642-3

The King's Welsh subjects rally to his cause, turning the western borderlands into one of the key strategic theatres of the war.

1643

After the inconclusive fighting in 1642, both King and parliament set about trying to accomplish something no government had so far achieved in early Stuart England - construct a state capable of successfully waging war.

1642-3

Both parliament and the King look to expand the war by drawing in allies from Scotland and Ireland.

1642-3

Queen Henrietta Maria travels to the continent in search of aid for the royalist cause. However, France and Spain are distracted by war, and she finds the Dutch deeply divided on English affairs.

Fall 1642

After the inconclusive Battle of Edgehill, both parliament and the King come to grips with the fact that they are in a prolonged war.

Summer 1642

The Earl of Essex leads an army out of London, in search of the King. Meanwhile Charles scrambles to put together a force capable of meeting the rebels in battle.