Covering the period from the accession of James I to the death of Queen Anne, this Companion provides a magisterial overview of the 'long' seventeenth century in British history.

The Companion's chapters, each written by a leading expert, guide readers through the maze of scholarly debates about Stuart Britain. They offer new insights into the enormous changes that occurred during this time; not only the Civil War and the establishment of a Protectorate, but also the intense intellectual and religious ferment and economic transformations of the era. They also set out issues currently of interest to historians, such as the rise of the fiscal state in Britain, and interactions between an integrated England and Wales and the separate kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland.

The volume will be of interest to academics and students wishing to keep up to date with new thinking on the period, but is also accessible enough to be enjoyed by a broader readership.

Barry Coward is Reader in History at Birkbeck College, London. His previous publications include The Stanleys, Lords Stanley and Earls of Derby: The Origins, Wealth and Power of a Landowning Family, 1385-1672 (1983), Oliver Cromwell (1991), The Stuart Age: England 1603-1714 (second edition, 1994) and, with Christopher Durston, The English Revolution: A Sourcebook (1997). He is the President of the Cromwell Association.