Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688

cover damaged - think packaging was too big so book crashing around inside the packaging

This is a refreshing take on a well-worn theme - England in the seventeenth century (well, most of it, plus the stub of the sixteenth). The book looks at England from the perspective of its continental enemies (and sometime allies, depending on the geopolitical shifts). It also considers Scotland and Ireland as outsiders. The scholarship is sometimes worn a little too heavily on its sleeve, and it's easy to feel overwhelmed at times by the torrent of names of the many ambassadors, diplomats etc. who feature page after page. If you are looking for an update on the political and military history of seventeenth century England / Britain, this book is not for you. It does cover the key events in passing, as it needs to, but you have to be familiar with these before reading this book. The only thing I was left wondering at the end was why, if England was seen as such a rogue state / European pariah, its enemies were too disorganised to unite temporarily and arrange an uninvited, proper invasion. Strongly recommended.

I am amazed that this wonderful book has not yet been reviewed on Amazon so will offer my humble contribution. This book deals with the history of England from the Spanish Armada to the Glorious Revolution, as well as looking at the preliminaries (the execution of Mary Stuart just before 1588) and the immediate aftermath of William and Mary's ultimately successful coup (the Battle of the Boyne etc). The approach taken in this book is very much focussed on international relations, and England appears rather like a planet, moving in relation to others, the key players being France, Spain and the Dutch Republic, along with Scotland and Ireland closer to home, and other players such as Denmark and the Papacy. It is a history of England so Scotland remains a foreign player in spite of the fact it shared a monarch after 1603. The author has mined the diplomatic correspondence adroitly and takes us to the heart of the action, as seen through the eyes of these sophisticated players. She shows England as something of a rogue state during the Commonwealth, as well as being a potentially or actually failing state for much of the 17th century. Other primary witness archives provide more first-hand testimony, and this is a very vivid portrayal of the period. We can see the perspective of contemporaries who could not know that the English republic would be relatively short-lived. Charles II's reign of often stereotyped as a national party, but in fact we see here that it was a turbulent time. The importance of religion in everyone's life in Europe at the time was such that religion pervaded all politics. Another key theme is religious diversity in the three kingdoms of the Stuarts. England was Anglican, Scotland was Calvinist and Ireland was Catholic, in a time when they shared a king who was supposed to be appointed by God. This was a recipe for turbulence, domestic conflict and foreign interference (an activity of which of course England itself guilty). Often this period is portrayed as being a conflict between catholic and protestant, but there was more than one way to be a protestant, and differing views on the shape of the reformation could also lead to conflict. This is a turbulent period during which the English executed two crowned monarchs, one of them not even their own (and they executed the second without much reference to his subjects in his other kingdoms), lived without a monarch for over a decade and then finally deposed one king on little obvious legal precedent other than a dislike of his religion. The final part of the book deals with the so-called Glorious Revolution and the author gives due prominence to the fact that there was a strong military aspect to this event, as William arrived with foreign soldiers, Dutch mainly but his army at the Boyne included other foreigners from prote...

Item is a book I was eager to have. Prompt arrival was much appreciated.

I have not as yet purchased this volume. I hav e read from samples on the Amazon website. I am very interested in the subject. I The style of writing is from an earlier time. The writing is fluid, but with lots of clauses attached in a single sentence which can make laborious . This is not a style of writing we are used to from books published in the last 50 years or so. This can make it a slower read with requires more thought as you go. I like history even when it is dry, so I am not complaining as to content. I am 63 years old. I am not sure I would want to take that much time. It is a bit like reading Macaulay.