Governors, the Royalist war effort, and power’s personalisation in Northern England, 1642–9

Abstract

ABSTRACT Royalist administration during the British Civil Wars of the mid-seventeenth century has been understudied, a consequence both of the historic destruction of primary sources and due to a longstanding bias against investigation into Royalism by historians. However, extant sources, such as civic corporations’ records, have survived in regional archives to reconstruct Royalist military government through its interaction with civil authorities. The devolution of power to garrison governors allowed the Royalists to subordinate the antebellum institutions of Northern England’s civil administration to the material and security needs of the Royalist army. This article’s historiographical purpose is to contribute towards the long-standing debate on Royalist governance. While often typified by historians as opaque, disorganised, and exploitative, Royalist administration in Northern England displayed remarkable mutability—being capable of significant change in reaction to changing military or political circumstances.