HIST 131: Demanding Democracy in 17th c. England: Videos

17th century Britain was a hotbed of revolution, treachery and court intrigue. Oliver Cromwell, the fiery ambitious commoner took on the monarchy and changed the course of Western civilization. He and King Charles I fought for absolute rule.

pril 1, 1649. St. George's Hill, Surrey, England. A reformation-era religious sect called the Diggers sets out to form a commune and till the soil on "common land," which by law permits grazing-- but not settlement and cultivation. Led by Gerard Winstanley, theirs is a nonviolent action to reclaim land for the poor who have been dispossessed by Oliver Cromwell's recent Civil War. But the local villagers see the Diggers as a threat to their livelihood and, led by the Presbyterian parson, John Platt, take violent action to harass and burn them out

1645: After years of civil war, King Charles I is overthrown and two heroes have emerged-- Lord General Thomas Fairfax and his best friend and deputy General Oliver Cromwell. Their friendship is threatened when Fairfax and his wife conspire to return the King to power, and Cromwell instead orders his execution, seizing control. His armies spread violence and fear throughout the country, and Fairfax realizes Cromwell must be stopped, and their bond as two comrades-at-arms irreparably broken.

Set between the years 1642 and 1660, this series charts the progress of the English Civil War through the eyes of the a 17 year old girl, the fictional Angelica Fanshawe. She starts out as a Royalist friend of King Charles I, then meets Puritans Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Rainsborough, Levellers John Lilburne and Edward Sexby, and also joins groups of the Diggers and the Ranters

The English Civil War is one of the darkest moments of English history. When Parliament published England's first newspaper - advertising their complaints against Charles I, the effect on men and women who had hitherto known nothing of the affairs of government was seismic. The war tore families apart, cut down a generation in its own back yard, and left relatively more people dead than World War I. Everyday we see wars and disputes fought out in print.

Under the charismatic Oliver Cromwell, Parliament commits a previously unthinkable act: it executes a reigning king. Eventually, the fledgling republic discovers that it needs a monarch after all.

Ruling Britain for over 300 years from 1603 to 1714, the Stuart monarchs have often been branded as merciless tyrants who stood in the way of progress. But the three separate kingdoms the Stuarts inherited - Scotland, England and Ireland - were already steeped in turbulence and bloodshed, more used to fighting one another than co-operating in harmonious existenc

King Charles I succeeds his father King James I in 1625. The ties between the Wynn family and the ruling Stuarts grows ever closer as Sir Richard Wynn joins his King on an ill-fated voyage intended to gain the Infanta of Spain's hand in marriage. Having failed, Charles marries the daughter of the King of France instead, putting a Catholic Queen back on the throne. Religious upheaval along with Charles' dismissal of Parliament and authoritarian rule eventually leads to a civil war. In the end, a king is beheaded and a commoner named Oliver Cromwell seizes power.