CAUSES OF THE ENGLISH REVOLUTION 1529-1642

Lawrence Stone's The Causes of the English Revolution 15291642 is an important book, because its purpose is to examine the dynamic of revolution and apply it to England specifically, touching on every area from king's divine-right to the Parliament's desire for legal rights, instead of favors from the king.

It is Stone's design to produce a straight-forward, factual account of the events of the 16th and 17th century that culminated in British turmoil. He has a wide variety of sources that he refers to, and in the final analysis the conclusions he comes to over the revolution comprise the viewpoint that has been held by historians for a number of decades on the subject.

What Stone adds to historical research is his excellent examination of the way in which the throne and Parliament functioned together during this period. In other studies, there was primary emphasis given to kings such as James I (1603-25) and Charles I (1625-49), though the legislative body was placed too far in the background. Stone's text helps to remedy this, and consequently a much clearer picture of the revolution emerges.

The author gives a clear statement of purpose in his preface: "If this little book acts as a stimulus to further and more methodologically sophisticated debate, it will have served its purpose (p. xiii).

With these motives in mind, there is no reason for the reader to suspect that Stone has a certain agenda that is controlling

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efore him and helped to focus his research. R.H. Tawney's 1940 study proved to be invaluable to him: "He saw a change in the ownership of property occurring in the century before the civil war " (p. 26). This information helped Stone to understand why the old-fashioned landownership disintegrated, and why a new class of gentry rose to the top. In addition to the Tawney volume there was the H.R. Trevor-Roper book, which was important because the author minimized the viewpoint that the age was symbolized by the rise of the gentry. "He postulated instead a massive decline of the 'mere gentry'-- small or middling landowners " (p. 27). The third chapter is part of Stone's interpretation of the events. He works through the causes of the revolution that have already been stated in this paper (middle class, religious issues, king-Parliament dissension) and divides his areas into preconditions and precipitants. This allows him to come to his conclusion, where he is able to detail out a number of final arguments. He comes to understand that the war started with a conflict among the traditional elites. But, once the Parliamentary leadership was captured by the hardcore advocates in a military victory, there was the legitimate eme
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Approximate Word count = 1460
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)