This book explores the complex events and the increasing religious and political discord that followed the coronation of James I and which culminated in the English Civil War.

1. James VI and the Elizabethan Legacy 2. James I. Religion and the Church 3. James I. Parliaments and finances 4. Buckingham and foreign policy, 1618-1628 5. Charles I. Rule with Parliaments, 1625-1629 6. Charles I. Rule without Parliaments, 1629-1640 7. Ireland under Sir Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford 8. The Coming of Civil War