26 • The Fifth Monarchists Channels 2022 Introduction istory is written by the victors. At least, so goes the adage. Perhaps, however, it would be more accurate to state that history remembers the victors. The losers, on the other hand, often fade into obscurity. Such is the case with many of the radical groups of the English Revolution, and in particular, with one group known as the Fifth Monarchists. The English Civil War (or, as some historians refer to it, the English Civil Wars), was a brutal conflict that toppled the established order in England. King Charles I was eventually executed, and a power vacuum was left in England that allowed for a power struggle among different groups, each with its own vision of the future of the British Isles. Review of Literature The English Civil War and subsequent Commonwealth government under Cromwell are well documented with many primary and secondary sources. However, there has been considerable division among historians, with different schools of thought taking different stances on the significance of the Revolution, and some consider whether it constitutes a revolution at all. There is broad disagreement over the factors that led to the war, as well as the implications that it had on English history. 1 Zaller, “What Does the English Revolution Mean? Recent Historiographical Interpretations of Mid-Seventeenth Century England.” pg. 619 2 Harris, Tim. “Revisiting the Causes of the English Civil War.” pg. 617 Schools of Thought There are numerous schools of thought surrounding the English Civil War, as can be expected of any major conflict that played such a pivotal role in a nation’s history. In this case, there are four major schools of thought that have been dominant in modern historiography of the English Civil War, though they sometimes overlap and are not all-encompassing. These are the Whigs, the Marxists, the Revisionists, and the PostRevisionists. The older schools are the Whigs and the Marxists. Both hold to the idea of an English “Revolution” that led to grand changes in English society and government.1 Additionally, this deterministic approach to history resulted in both seeing the Civil War as a culmination of decades, if not centuries, of cultural and political shifts all leading to unavoidable conflict.2 Despite these similarities, there are differences between the two schools of thought that distinguish them from each other quite significantly. To some extent, the Whiggish school of thought interprets the conflict as a struggle between monarchism and democracy, focusing on the liberal and democratic changes brought about by the war that led ultimately to the Glorious Revolution. Samuel Rawson Gardiner was one of the most significant Whiggish historians of the Civil War. H
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