‘A Momentous Parliament’: Reviewing The House of Commons 1640–1660

Abstract

This article offers an extended review of the nine‐volume history of the house of commons between 1640 and 1660. It praises the exhaustive research underlying this authoritative account of the members of the parliaments that fought and won the war against Charles I, established a republic, and operated in the different circumstances of the Cromwellian Protectorate, with a revised electorate and representatives from Scotland and Ireland, as well as England and Wales. The biographies of MPs and the surveys of constituencies and elections have much of value for scholars of cultural and social history, as well as those interested in political and administrative history. The introductory survey and the comprehensive treatment of parliamentary committees are a vital contribution to our understanding of British state formation under the pressure of civil war, while the volumes offer a convincing challenge to current historiographical assumptions, notably on the nature of divisions in the Long Parliament. While concepts of faction, ‘interest’, and ‘conservative’ could have been addressed with more nuance, the clear judgement overall is that the volumes represent a stupendous achievement. They are thoroughly researched and engagingly written, an indispensable resource for everyone interested in the dramatic upheavals of mid‐seventeenth‐century Britain.