In an earlier post this year I recorded a variant issue of an English Civil War news pamphlet which had been updated as it went through the press to include a newly received piece of news, filling an empty space on the final page (see A stop-press news item in 1642). A similar example has…
The new year in 1642 saw an escalation of the friction between King Charles I and his Parliament. A ‘Grand Remonstrance’ had been drafted by M.P. John Pym and his colleagues, which detailed Charles I’s abuses, both real and imagined, since Charles’s accession in 1625. On 4 January 1642 the King entered the Commons chamber…
On 10 June 1647 the Westminster Parliament passed an ordinance declaring that the celebration of Christmas was a punishable offence. There had been long-standing opposition on the part of the Puritans to the festivities of the twelve nights of Christmas and to special church services to mark Christmas Day. The June ordinance was a…