A HISTORIAN at the University of Worcester will be reflecting on the political landscape 400 years earlier.
Professor of Early Modern History, Darren Oldridge, will be giving a talk on ‘Political Ideas in the English Civil Wars’ at The Commandery in Worcester on Saturday, July 6, at 2pm.
He said: “At a time of political debate, it is interesting to reflect on the somewhat more violent political controversies and upheavals of 17th-century England.
“In the words of one contemporary, the period was ‘boiling hot with questions’ about the constitution, taxes, the rights and duties of subjects, and the power of religious institutions.
“These led to the trial and execution of the King and the formation of a republic in the 1650s.”
The talk will talk about some of the political questions that formed the background to the war.
He added: “Many of the arguments fought out in this period – with both words and bullets – remain resonant today.
“In the civil war of the 1640s, ordinary people were involved in politics as never before.
“In particular, soldiers in the parliamentarian army demanded the extension of the franchise in elections and the abolition of the coercive powers of the church.”
