| My mother took me to Europe when I was nine years old, and we spent most of our time in England. Every day we visited castles and cathedrals, and I loved them, though I didn't have an overall context for them. But then a few years later I found an introduction to the history of England in our Junior High School library, and reading that (more than once, I think) helped me understand how all those things that I had seen fit together. I still especially enjoy British history, and so when the New York Times printed a positive review of a new book, I immediately ordered a copy. The Blood in Winter by Jonathan Healey, describes the events of, 1642, the year before the outbreak of the Civil War. It gives special attention to two men who ended up as important supporters of King Charles I: John Bankes and Edward Nicholas. The events of that year are especially relevant to what's happening in America today, because the king wanted to do things on his own, without authorization from Parliament, while the House of Commons was dominated by radicals who were very jealous of their powers and privileges. In the course of the book we see how Parliament gradually came to believe that any compromises that the King might make were only to buy time until he could destroy them, and so they must take up arms against him. The war officially began when Charles raised the royal standard at Nottingham on 22 August 1642, and fighting went on until Parliamentary forces won decisive battles in 1645. After his final defeat Charles was tried for treason and executed in 1649. |
| Created on 30 October 2025, updated on 2 November 2025 by Samuel Ethan Fox |