Civil War: The History of England Volume III (82 page)

Read Civil War: The History of England Volume III Online

Authors: Peter Ackroyd

14. Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of Strafford, the dour supporter of absolute monarchy.

15. A plan of the Battle of Naseby, the outcome of which wrecked the king’s chances in the summer of 1645.

16. Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Charles I’s senior commander, brave, but also foolhardy.

17. The trial of Charles I in Westminster Hall.

18. The result of the trial: a death warrant.

19. Cromwell, the chief of men until his death in 1658.

20. A contemporary tapestry celebrating the restoration of Charles II.

21. Charles II, the supposedly ‘merry monarch’.

22. Catherine of Braganza, the wife of Charles II, who was reputed to have introduced tea-drinking to England.

23. Barbara Villiers, duchess of Cleveland, one of Charles II’s many mistresses, who was described by John Evelyn as ‘the curse of the nation’.

24. Nell Gwynne, the orange-seller who became a royal courtesan.

25. Louise de Kérouaille, Charles’s French mistress who became duchess of Portsmouth and who was known by Nell Gwynne as ‘Squintabella’.

26. The earl of Rochester, rake and poet who did not mince his words.

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