Endorsements

The English Revolution was a catastrophic experience for the royalist clergy. Over the course of two tumultuous decades, they saw their king defeated and publicly executed, with his successor forced into exile. Meanwhile, the liturgy and government of their Church were systematically dismantled by parliament. Many found themselves silenced, ejected and even imprisoned at the hands of their enemies. This book examines one crucial way in which these conservative clergymen responded to the challenges posed by revolution: the preaching and printing of sermons. It argues that the upheavals of the 1640s and 1650s forced royalists to reassess earlier assumptions and practices in relation to sermon culture. Preaching was now recognised as an especially vital means of defending, shaping and propagating the king's cause. As the nation descended into civil war, the clergy sought to influence both popular allegiance and elite decision-making from the pulpit. But sermons were also particularly well suited to negotiating the conditions of censorship and persecution with which royalists were confronted as their opponents began to gain the ascendancy. The Lord's battle provides a valuable new perspective on Civil War preaching, which has traditionally been depicted as the sole preserve of parliamentarians and puritans. At the same time, it represents a significant contribution to understandings of royalist politics, religion and print culture during the seventeenth century.