Mark Stoyle – författare

“Compelling.”—Mathew Lyons, Times (UK)“Authoritative.”—Marcus Nevitt, Spectator“A sympathetic portrayal of communities fighting for all they held dear.”—Lucy Wooding, Times Literary SupplementThe fascinating story of the so-called “Prayer Book Rebellion” of 1549 which saw the people of Devon and Cornwall rise up against the Crown  The Western Rising of 1549 was the most catastrophic event to occur in Devon and Cornwall between the Black Death and the Civil War. Beginning as an argument between two men and their vicar, the rebellion led to a siege of Exeter, savage battles with Crown forces, and the deaths of 4,000 local men and women. It represents the most determined attempt by ordinary English people to halt the religious reformation of the Tudor period.  Mark Stoyle tells the story of the so-called “Prayer Book Rebellion” in full. Correcting the accepted narrative in a number of places, Stoyle shows that the government in London saw the rebels as a real threat. He demonstrates the importance of regional identity and emphasizes that religion was at the heart of the uprising. This definitive account brings to life the stories of the thousands of men and women who acted to defend their faith almost five hundred years ago.

Remembering the English Civil Wars is the first collection of essays to explore how the bloody struggle which took place between the supporters of king and parliament during the 1640s was viewed in retrospect.The English Civil Wars were perhaps the most calamitous series of conflicts in the country’s recorded history. Over the past twenty years there has been a surge of interest in the way that the Civil Wars were remembered by the men, women and children who were unfortunate enough to live through them. The essays brought together in this book not only provide a clear and accessible introduction to this fast-developing field of study but also bring together the voices of a diverse group of scholars who are working at its cutting edge. Through the investigation of a broad, but closely interrelated, range of topics – including elite, popular, urban and local memories of the wars, as well as the relationships between civil war memory and ceremony, material culture and concepts of space and place – the essays contained in this volume demonstrate, with exceptional vividness and clarity, how the people of England and Wales continued to be haunted by the ghosts of the mid-century conflict throughout the decades which followed.The book will be essential reading for all students of the English Civil Wars, Stuart Britain and the history of memory.

Remembering the English Civil Wars is the first collection of essays to explore how the bloody struggle which took place between the supporters of king and parliament during the 1640s was viewed in retrospect.The English Civil Wars were perhaps the most calamitous series of conflicts in the country’s recorded history. Over the past twenty years there has been a surge of interest in the way that the Civil Wars were remembered by the men, women and children who were unfortunate enough to live through them. The essays brought together in this book not only provide a clear and accessible introduction to this fast-developing field of study but also bring together the voices of a diverse group of scholars who are working at its cutting edge. Through the investigation of a broad, but closely interrelated, range of topics – including elite, popular, urban and local memories of the wars, as well as the relationships between civil war memory and ceremony, material culture and concepts of space and place – the essays contained in this volume demonstrate, with exceptional vividness and clarity, how the people of England and Wales continued to be haunted by the ghosts of the mid-century conflict throughout the decades which followed.The book will be essential reading for all students of the English Civil Wars, Stuart Britain and the history of memory.

This volume is a study of popular behaviour during the English Civil War. The book makes three claims. The first is that English counties did not behave as homogeneous units during the conflict of 1642-46, but that they divided instead along regional lines, certain areas supporting Parliament, others supporting the King. The second is that this general rule applied to cities too, and that in urban communities it is possible to discern both 'Royalist' and 'Parliamentarian' parishes. The third is that these internal divisions were not simply temporary alignments, conjured up by extraordinary circumstances, but that they reflected deep and enduring splits in local society, contrasting patterns of popular behaviour stretching back over very many years.

This is a study of the city of Exeter during the Great Civil War of 1642-46; it offers a lively, immediate account of how one English city slid, inexorably, into the chaos of civil war. The book shows how Exeter's inhabitants first began to dissent from each other over religious issues, then became divided into two warring camps, and finally, after three years of bitter conflict, witnessed much of the ancient city being destroyed about their ears.The main text is accompanied by a generous collection of transcripts from original seventeenth-century documents. These have been specially selected to illuminate the war's effect on ordinary men and women, and to show how closely engaged they were with the national politico-religious debate. This book will be of interest to all serious students of the English Civil War, while at the same time being accessible to a non-specialist audience.

This volume is a study of popular behaviour during the English Civil War. The book makes three claims. The first is that English counties did not behave as homogeneous units during the conflict of 1642-46, but that they divided instead along regional lines, certain areas supporting Parliament, others supporting the King. The second is that this general rule applied to cities too, and that in urban communities it is possible to discern both 'Royalist' and 'Parliamentarian' parishes. The third is that these internal divisions were not simply temporary alignments, conjured up by extraordinary circumstances, but that they reflected deep and enduring splits in local society, contrasting patterns of popular behaviour stretching back over very many years.

West Britons provides a fresh interpretation of the bloodiest, most devastating years in Cornwall's history and a wholly new perspective on the history of the far South West of Britain. The book explores the unprecedented series of rebellions which took place in Cornwall between 1497 and 1648, traces the connections which existed between those revolts and the contemporary Cornish perception of themselves as a separate 'people', and argues that Cornish history must be viewed within a 'British', rather than a purely English context.West Britons will be required reading for all those who are engaged in the contemporary political and historical debate over 'Britishness'. The book also includes transcriptions of a number of previously unpublished documents, useful to teachers and their students, and a list of some 300 Cornish Royalist officers, of special interest to Civil War enthusiasts and genealogists.

Winner of the Devon Book of the Year Award 2003, Circled with Stone is the most comprehensive study to date of the fortifications of an early modern English city. The culmination of some twenty years of archaeological and documentary research, it provides a richly detailed portrait of the ancient system of walls, towers and gates which ringed the city of Exeter during the Tudor and early Stuart periods. The book traces the development of the fortifications over time, explores the many purposes which they served, and shows how they were defended against a series of major attacks: most notably during the Prayer Book rebellion of 1549 and the English Civil War. The text is accompanied by a series of extensive transcripts from Exeter's matchless civic archives, including two newly-discovered documents relating to the Prayer Book rebellion. The book includes a wealth of illustrations and brings together, for the very first time, colour reproductions of all the early maps of Exeter, as well as a series of specially commissioned photographs of the city walls today. Designed to be accessible to the general reader, as well as to the specialist, Circled with Stone paints a uniquely vivid picture of the role which urban fortifications played in everyday life in one of early modern England's greatest cities. Richly detailed, fully illustrated and accessible to the general reader as well as of interest to historians and archaeologists.

This compelling book from Mark Stoyle sets out to uncover the true history of Boy, the canine companion of Charles I’s famous nephew, Prince Rupert. Like his master, Boy was held to possess dark powers and was elevated to celebrity status as a ‘dog-witch’ during the English Civil War of 1642-46. Many scholars have remarked upon the fantastical rumours which circulated about Prince Rupert and his dog, but no-one has investigated the source of these rumours, or explored how the supernatural element of the prince’s public image developed over time. In this book, Mark Stoyle recounts the occult stories which centred upon Prince Rupert and his dog. He shows how those stories grew out of, and contributed to, the changing pattern of witch-belief in England during the Civil War. Shortlisted for the Folklore Society’s Katharine Briggs Award 2012.

The city of Exeter was one of the great provincial capitals of late medieval and early modern England, possessing a range of civic amenities fully commensurate with its size and importance.  Among the most impressive of these was its highly sophisticated system of public water supply, including a unique network of underground passages.  Most of these ancient passages still survive today.Water in the City provides a richly illustrated history of Exeter's famous underground passages—and of Exeter’s system of public water supply during the medieval and early modern periods. Illustrated with full colour throughout, Mark Stoyle shows how and why the passages and aqueducts were originally built, considers the technologies that were used in their construction, explains how they were funded and maintained, and reveals the various ways in which the water fountains were used and abused by the townsfolk.

The Civil War fought between Charles I and his Parliament is one of the most momentous conflicts in English history. This book provides a wholly new perspective by revealing the extent to which the struggle possessed an “ethnic” dimension, and the impact of that on the forging of English national identity.Stoyle reveals the acute fear of foreign invasion that gripped England after 1640, when the insular English were placed on the brink of what they perceived as a national emergency. Stoyle sets the creation of the New Model Army within that context, arguing that its appearance represented the culmination of a campaign by Oliver Cromwell and others to forge a purely “English” military instrument, one purged of the foreign solders who had been so prominent in earlier Parliamentarian armies. This self-consciously “English” army eventually succeeded in wresting back control of the kingdom by defeating the king’s forces, re-conquering Cornwall and Wales, and expelling all foreign agents.