Charles I: A Political Life - Softcover

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Richard Cust

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Charles I paperback

Cust

'Richard Cust's new biography (is) by far the best to date... This is an outstanding piece of work: not only the best life of the king yet produced, but also the most subtle and balanced synthesis of current research on the politics and religion of the reign currently in print.'

John Adamson, BBC History

'Cust comes as close to producing a definitive account of the nature of Charles I's kingship as anyone is likely to do for a long time. […] We should be grateful....for this brilliantly conceived and deeply pondered work. It becomes a crucial point of reference, always trustworthy and enlightening.'

Anthony Fletcher, History Today

Charles I has often been portrayed as unfit to rule, with historians blaming him for the events surrounding the Civil War. In this major biography Richard Cust examines and addresses their judgements of the king – that he was an uncounselled ruler, insufficiently popular, more effective as a party leader than as a monarch, or, most damning, a fatal combination of the obstinate, unrealistic and untruthful.

In reality, Charles I was a complex man whose career intersected with some of the most dramatic events in English history. He played a central role in provoking the English Civil War, and his execution led to the only republican government Britainhas ever known.

Although Cust shows convincingly that Charles I was not ‘unfit to be a king’, emphasising his strengths as a party leader and conviction politician, he concludes that, none the less, this monarch’s prejudices and attitudes, and his mishandling of political crises did much to bring about a civil war in Britain. He argues that ultimately, Charles pushed his enemies into a position where they had little choice but to execute him.