Description: The petitions addressed to Parliament and the army in the 5 months before Charles I's execution are widely recognised as having influenced the events that led to his trial and death. Never before has there been a comprehensive examination of these texts and only the whole body of them can offer a prospect of assessing their contribution.
Review Quotes:
'Popular petitions were at the very heart of the revolutionary crisis of 1648-1649 and this book is unique in recovering their meaning, the context in which they were issued, and the people who wrote and supported them. Essential reading.'
John Rees, author of The Leveller Revolution
'The petitions Norah Carlin has transcribed and carefully contextualized in Regicide or Revolution? represent an incredibly important cache of materials for understanding the crisis of the English Revolution, the trial and execution of Charles I. Carlin convincingly demonstrates that these petitions were not straightforward demands for bloody retribution. Rather, their content varied considerably, incorporating radical demands for legal, social and constitutional reform, giving historians a highly important window into the ideals and aspirations of the 'well affected' both within and outside the army. The collection should be required reading for scholars and students of the English Revolution, and the general reader alike.'
Ted Vallance, University of Roehampton, London
'At last the army petitions of 1648-9 have found their editor and historian. Every student of the English Revolution will be indebted to Norah Carlin for bringing together in one place the soldiers' petitions, from all over England and Wales, that demanded justice, however they conceived it, after the first and second civil wars. Each petition has been carefully edited, set in context, and assessed in what is an authoritative edition of very important documents in the history of relations between Parliament, army and people.'
Stephen K. Roberts, Director, History of Parliament Trust