Clarendon's History of the Rebellion and the Portrait of Charles I: The Model of the Good Prince

Abstract

Clarendon's History of the Rebellion and the Civil Wars in England is one of the best known works on the English Civil War. It has been the focus of discussion by many historians some of whom I am indebted to in my own work. In particular, Martine Watson Brownley's consideration of the History as literature has provided me with much interesting background. George Miller's comprehensive coverage of Clarendon's History from various aspects has stimulated my thoughts on the work, and the renowned Charles Harding Firth's three articles in the English Historical Review of 1904, have not only given me valuable information, but also ideas to follow in my research. His articles in the Dictionary of National Biography, as well as those of other historians in the same work have been used extensively for biographical information for both well-known and more obscure writers, whose works are included in my thesis. The topic of my thesis was suggested by Royce Macgillivray who considers Clarendon's work as a history of the rebellion, and who notes that Charles, one of the main protagonists in the war, emerges from the History of the Rebellion as 'a dim figure'. This interesting comment provided the starting point for my own research. That is, I set out to find out if I too found Charles I a 'dim figure' in Clarendon's work, and if so, why this should be, given his life-like portraits of other figures on both sides of the rebellion, and his close association with the King over a number of years.