Ronald Hutton is Professor of History at the University of Bristol

'Still by far the best study of precisely the subject described by the title - the war effort ... there is not a better account of the way armies were mobilised and deployed, or the interface of Royalist administrative history and military history or of the internal politics of the royalist party and its military consequences.' - John Morrill, University of Cambridge'Hutton's subject is the area which gave Charles I his most valuable support to that task he brings a thrilling intelligence, a powerful imagination and a bracing, epigrammatic prose.' - London Review of Books

• Introduction: ‘Wrong but Wromantic’? PART ONE The achievement of civil war 1 The emergence of the Cavaliers 2 The King on the march 3 After Edgehill PART TWO The grandees Introduction 4 Herbert 5 Capel 6 Carbery 7 Russell Conclusions PART THREE The Royalist war effort 8 The machinery 9 The task 10 The Parliamentarian comparison PART FOUR The warlords 11 Vavasour 12 Maurice, Byron and Gerard 13 Rupert PART FIVE Warlords and civilians 14 After Marston Moor 15 The Marcher Association and the Clubmen 16 The resurgence of the warlords PART SIX The failure of the Royalists 17 After Naseby 18 The last stand, Conclusion