English Revolution, The

Abstract

English Revolution refers to the profound changes that the English monarchical system underwent during the years 1642–60 and 1688. The term itself and the historical interpretation of these events have long been a matter of debate by historians and the weight assigned to the causal factors is a controversial issue to the present day. What contemporaries called the ‘great revolution’ or the ‘civil war’ was the result of a multiple structural crisis of the English monarchy: at the level of the political organization of early modern English society, it was a conflict between a constitutional offensive on the part of the Crown and the resistance of Parliament, the specifically English form of corporate representation; in the context of British monarchy, it was a conflict between English, Scottish, and Irish interests, caused and exacerbated by confessional differences. Religion was a significant factor in the politicization that culminated in the trial of the king and the declaration of the English republic. The chronicle of events between 1642 and 1660 also illustrates the individual phases of the classic model of revolution (Brinton). Ultimately, the effect of the English Revolution was not limited to England (1688–9); its wider impact can be seen in the American Revolution, in particular.