Turncoats and Renegadoes is the first dedicated study of the practice of changing sides during the English Civil Wars. It examines the extent and significance of side-changing in England and Wales but also includes comparative material from Scotland and Ireland. The first half identifies side-changers among peers, MPs, army officers, and common soldiers, before reconstructing the chronological and regional patterns to their defections. The second half delivers a cultural history of treachery, by adopting a thematic approach to explore the social and cultural implications of defections, and demonstrating how notions of what constituted a turncoat were culturally constructed. Side-changing came to dominate strategy on both sides at the highest levels. Both sides reviled, yet sought to take advantage of the practice, whilst allegations of treachery came to dominate the internal politics of royalists and parliamentarians alike. The language applied to 'turncoats and renegadoes' in contemporary print is discussed and contrasted with the self-justifications of the side-changers themselves as they sought to shape an honourable self-image for their families and posterity. Andrew Hopper investigates the implementation of military justice, along with the theatre of retribution surrounding the trial and execution of turncoats. He concludes by arguing that, far from side-changing being the dubious practice of a handful of aberrant individuals, it became a necessary survival strategy for thousands as they navigated their way through such rapidly changing events. He reveals how side-changing shaped the course of the English Revolution, even contributing to the regicide itself, and remained an important political legacy to the English speaking peoples thereafter.
Introduction Part I: A profile of side-changing in England and Wales, 1642-1646 1: A turncoat aristocracy 2: 'Ambi-dexter' MPs 3: Military professionals: 'renegado' army officers 4: Popular allegiance and side-changing among rank and file soldiers 5: Chronological and regional patterns to side-changing Part II: A cultural history of side-changing 6: Political oath-taking and the fear of treachery 7: The language of treachery in newsbooks and polemic 8: Honour, reputation, and the self-fashioning of elite side-changers 9: Trial and execution: defectors and military justice Conclusion Epilogue Appendices Bibliography
Reviews for Turncoats and Renegadoes: Changing Sides during the English Civil Wars
Based on impressive and wide-ranging research in national and local archives in the United Kingdom and in the Folger and Yale University Libraries in the United States, this is the first full-length study of its subject and its significance for the course, and ultimate outcome, of the English Revolution. R.C. Richardson, Clio Turncoats and Renegadoes is an important and sensitive study of an issue that has been critically absent from the ongoing debate on allegiance and political culture in the English Civil War period. Dr Elliot Vernon, Reviews in History A painstaking exploration of social, cultural, political, chronological and regional patterns and attitudes in and to a phenomenon conditioned by the changing tides of war, opportunism and the pressing weight of external pressures. R. C. Richardson, Times Higher Education By combining high-level storytelling with a thoroughness and shrewdness of judgment, it is a work that is more than the sum of its parts. John Morill, BBC History Magazine a thoroughly researched study of changing sides during the Civil Wars. ... a very original and stimulating study. Northern History
