Description
Book SynopsisTurncoats and Renegadoes is the first dedicated study of the practice of changing sides during the English Civil Wars. It examines the extent and significance of side-changing in England and Wales but also includes comparative material from Scotland and Ireland. The first half identifies side-changers among peers, MPs, army officers, and common soldiers, before reconstructing the chronological and regional patterns to their defections. The second half delivers a cultural history of treachery, by adopting a thematic approach to explore the social and cultural implications of defections, and demonstrating how notions of what constituted a turncoat were culturally constructed. Side-changing came to dominate strategy on both sides at the highest levels. Both sides reviled, yet sought to take advantage of the practice, whilst allegations of treachery came to dominate the internal politics of royalists and parliamentarians alike. The language applied to ''turncoats and renegadoes'' in contem
Trade ReviewBased on impressive and wide-ranging research in national and local archives in the United Kingdom and in the Folger and Yale University Libraries in the United States, this is the first full-length study of its subject and its significance for the course, and ultimate outcome, of the English Revolution. * R.C. Richardson, Clio *
a thoroughly researched study of changing sides during the Civil Wars. ... a very original and stimulating study. * Northern History *
Hoppers thoughtful book is a useful addition to those crowded student reading lists, but it needs to be read beside other studies. * Anthony Fletcher, The Journal of the Historical Association, *
Hopper's book provides a very useful examination of the choosing of sides in the first place. ... We owe Hopper a great deal for bringing their justifications before us in so well analysed a manner. * Martyn Bennet, War in History *
a significant and lively contribution * Ronald Hutton, English Historical Review *
Table of ContentsPART I: A PROFILE OF SIDE-CHANGING IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 1642-1646 ; PART II: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF SIDE-CHANGING
