1645

This section describes context of the political and military events of the changing balance of power in the Civil War as Charles I lost control to Cromwell, Parliament, and the Puritans. It explores the royalist literary responses, the effects the war on booksellers and the theatres, the Puritan models of polemical and autobiographical writing, and the proliferation of newsbooks. Although the London theatres were officially closed, dramatic performances continued, some clandestine others in alternative venues, with the publication of play texts and volumes of verse by royalist poets ensuring they remained visible.