Second Hand The Outbreak of the English Civil War

Anthony Fletcher's major study of the political crisis that led to the outbreak of the English Civil War, examining events from the meeting of the Long Parliament in November 1640 through to the beginning of open warfare in 1642.

Rather than treating the conflict as an inevitable consequence of long-term constitutional disagreement, Fletcher reconstructs the rapidly deteriorating relationship between Charles I, Parliament and political opinion throughout the country. Particular attention is given to the competing fears and suspicions that developed on both sides: Parliamentarian anxiety over Catholic influence and a supposed conspiracy against Protestant religion, and Royalist fears that opponents of the Crown intended to destroy episcopacy, royal authority and the established form of worship.

The book examines parliamentary factionalism, religious controversy, petitions, political confrontation and attempts at accommodation, alongside the growth of Royalist and Parliamentarian organisation. Later chapters trace the failure of compromise, the mobilisation of the militia and commissions of array, and the local activism and neutrality that shaped the transition from political crisis to civil war.

Fletcher integrates events at Westminster with developments across the counties, using local evidence to demonstrate how national disputes were experienced and interpreted throughout England. The volume includes nine maps, tables, appendices, extensive notes and an index.

First published by Edward Arnold in 1981, the work became an important contribution to modern scholarship on the causes and immediate origins of the English Civil War.