Second Hand The Eastern Association in the English Civil War

Clive Holmes’s important study of the Eastern Association, the Parliamentarian alliance of eastern counties that became one of the most effective political and military organisations of the English Civil War.

Holmes examines the social, religious and political character of the eastern counties before tracing the creation of the Association from the outbreak of war through its formal development in 1643 and 1644. Particular attention is given to East Anglia, the political role of the local gentry, the administration and financing of the war effort, and the interaction between local communities and central Parliamentary authority.

The book explores the growing importance of Cambridge as the Association’s administrative and military centre under the Earl of Manchester, together with the organisation, funding and deployment of its army. The Eastern Association played a decisive role in the Parliamentary war effort, most notably at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, and its forces subsequently provided an important foundation for the New Model Army.

Drawing extensively upon national and local archival sources, Holmes combines military organisation, political history and local social analysis to explain why the Association was able to operate so effectively. The volume includes statistical tables, appendices, bibliographical references and an index.