was hurtling into civil war in
1641 he quickly reworked and strengthened a treatise he was writing on government and had it circulated. 10 Contrary to Milton, Hobbes maintained that once the people passed power to a ruler, it should stay there. His reasoning was
that if a ruler could be deposed, society might collapse into anarchy at any time. 11 As he was famously to write, life would be ‘nasty, brutish and short’. 12 Hobbes’s concerns proved only too real – the social breakdown he feared came to pass in civil war. But while Hobbes was a
timid man, inherently scared of conflict, others embraced it, seeing it as the only way to resolve the power struggle between
king and Parliament. Interestingly, during the Prince of Wales’s early exile in Paris, Hobbes had briefly been his tutor,
specifically engaged to teach him mathematics. It would not have hurt either party that they shared a belief in absolute monarchy.
At The Hague in early 1649, the young Prince of Wales suddenly became a significant figure in European politics. While dealing
with his grief, he also had to decide how to win back his father’s crown. It would become apparent to Charles that most continental
powers would wait to see which way the wind was blowing. This meant that the immediate choice of countries from which to try
to launch an invasion was limited to Ireland and Scotland. Due to the Stuarts’ two-hundred-year association with the latter,
it seemed the better option. The prospective king would try his luck there. As for England, he would hope that widespread
shock at the overthrow of the country’s ancient certainties would prepare the ground for a triumphant homecoming.
Since the beginning of the Civil Wars, propaganda had played a major part in the fate of the Stuarts. The war of words had
begun during the early 1640s when newspapers blossomed in England. The conflict brought about a huge surge in the production
of pamphlets extolling the virtues of the opposing sides and lambasting the vices of their enemies.
The sparkling royalist news sheet
Mercurius Aulicus
(Court Mercury) was a good example. It made its first appearance in Oxford at the beginning of 1643, disseminating news about
King Charles’s war effort. But its genius lay in satirising the opposition. This was a breakthrough in contemporary journalism.
Before
Mercurius
appeared, news sheets had restricted themselves to publishing the news in a more or less factual manner. Now, they let go
of reality and lampooned the enemy. 13
Mercurius
was printed in Oxford and smuggled into London to undermine parliamentary support at a penny a time. 14
News sheets played an important role in the propaganda war on both sides. The parliamentary paper
Mercurius Britannicus
scored a propaganda coup when it published Charles’s private papers, captured at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. These revealed
the king’s plans to bring foreign mercenaries and an Irish (i.e. Catholic) army to fight against Parliament.
One of the oddest pieces of parliamentary propaganda was a tract by Francis Cheynell, a Presbyterian radical. Cheynell conjured
up an imaginary horror state ruled by Charles II – surely a preposterous eventuality! 15 Between 1647 and 1650, some fifty different titles were published, both royalist and parliamentary, with more than five hundred
actual editions. 16 Wives were not exempt from satirical attack: Elizabeth Cromwell and Lady Fairfax were portrayed fighting over which of their
husbands should be king.
In the face of changing fortunes, royalist propagandists decided to home in on one man – Oliver Cromwell. His military successes
had marked him out as the man to watch. His appearance was a gift to these early satirists; his lank hair, rugged features
and facial warts were exaggerated to portray him as an uncouth, untrustworthy type. Propaganda made the jump from satire to
the advocacy of murder in 1645. An edict appeared that
1641 he quickly reworked and strengthened a treatise he was writing on government and had it circulated. 10 Contrary to Milton, Hobbes maintained that once the people passed power to a ruler, it should stay there. His reasoning was
that if a ruler could be deposed, society might collapse into anarchy at any time. 11 As he was famously to write, life would be ‘nasty, brutish and short’. 12 Hobbes’s concerns proved only too real – the social breakdown he feared came to pass in civil war. But while Hobbes was a
timid man, inherently scared of conflict, others embraced it, seeing it as the only way to resolve the power struggle between
king and Parliament. Interestingly, during the Prince of Wales’s early exile in Paris, Hobbes had briefly been his tutor,
specifically engaged to teach him mathematics. It would not have hurt either party that they shared a belief in absolute monarchy.
At The Hague in early 1649, the young Prince of Wales suddenly became a significant figure in European politics. While dealing
with his grief, he also had to decide how to win back his father’s crown. It would become apparent to Charles that most continental
powers would wait to see which way the wind was blowing. This meant that the immediate choice of countries from which to try
to launch an invasion was limited to Ireland and Scotland. Due to the Stuarts’ two-hundred-year association with the latter,
it seemed the better option. The prospective king would try his luck there. As for England, he would hope that widespread
shock at the overthrow of the country’s ancient certainties would prepare the ground for a triumphant homecoming.
Since the beginning of the Civil Wars, propaganda had played a major part in the fate of the Stuarts. The war of words had
begun during the early 1640s when newspapers blossomed in England. The conflict brought about a huge surge in the production
of pamphlets extolling the virtues of the opposing sides and lambasting the vices of their enemies.
The sparkling royalist news sheet
Mercurius Aulicus
(Court Mercury) was a good example. It made its first appearance in Oxford at the beginning of 1643, disseminating news about
King Charles’s war effort. But its genius lay in satirising the opposition. This was a breakthrough in contemporary journalism.
Before
Mercurius
appeared, news sheets had restricted themselves to publishing the news in a more or less factual manner. Now, they let go
of reality and lampooned the enemy. 13
Mercurius
was printed in Oxford and smuggled into London to undermine parliamentary support at a penny a time. 14
News sheets played an important role in the propaganda war on both sides. The parliamentary paper
Mercurius Britannicus
scored a propaganda coup when it published Charles’s private papers, captured at the Battle of Naseby in 1645. These revealed
the king’s plans to bring foreign mercenaries and an Irish (i.e. Catholic) army to fight against Parliament.
One of the oddest pieces of parliamentary propaganda was a tract by Francis Cheynell, a Presbyterian radical. Cheynell conjured
up an imaginary horror state ruled by Charles II – surely a preposterous eventuality! 15 Between 1647 and 1650, some fifty different titles were published, both royalist and parliamentary, with more than five hundred
actual editions. 16 Wives were not exempt from satirical attack: Elizabeth Cromwell and Lady Fairfax were portrayed fighting over which of their
husbands should be king.
In the face of changing fortunes, royalist propagandists decided to home in on one man – Oliver Cromwell. His military successes
had marked him out as the man to watch. His appearance was a gift to these early satirists; his lank hair, rugged features
and facial warts were exaggerated to portray him as an uncouth, untrustworthy type. Propaganda made the jump from satire to
the advocacy of murder in 1645. An edict appeared that
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