EnglishRevolution, 17th Century

Abstract

The English Revolution refers to events in England between 1640 and 1660, which are now more generally referred to in their wider British and Irish context as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Any discussion of this period must look beyond the borders of England. Although pressures began to build in England from the inception of Charles I's reign in 1625, the trigger enabling a revolution to take place occurred in Scotland in 1638, while the 1641 Rising in Ireland had significant repercussions as well. Moreover, the turbulent period cannot be removed from its wider European context, and as such the English civil wars represent the last and greatest of Europe's wars of religion. For this reason the English Revolution can only be understood in the context of polity, nationalism, and religious confessional identities within the three kingdoms and the wider European context.