As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Affiliate disclosure.

Home / Periods / Tudor & Stuart Britain / Stuart Period

Period

Stuart Period

1603–1714 CE

The Stuart Period began when James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne in 1603. It includes the Jacobean and Caroline courts, conflict over religion and royal authority, the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the execution of Charles I, the Commonwealth, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution and the Protestant succession. It was a period when monarchy survived, but not unchanged.

This period matters because it tested the limits of kingship, Parliament and religious conformity. England, Scotland and Ireland were drawn into interconnected conflict, and the monarchy was abolished, restored and then constrained. The result was a new political settlement that shaped later British history.

Stuart fiction includes Robert Harris’s Act of Oblivion, Rose Tremain’s Restoration, Iain Pears’s An Instance of the Fingerpost, Andrew Taylor’s Marwood and Lovett novels, Giles Kristian’s Bleeding Land trilogy and Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle. Its social world included civil-war soldiers, spies, fugitives, plague survivors, London officials, scientists, conspirators and families divided by politics.

Related people for Stuart Period

Anne Fairfax1617/18–1665 Anne of Great Britain1665–1714 Anthony Wood1632–1695 Arabella Stuart1575–1615 Bess of Hardwick1527–1608 Bess Throckmorton1565–c. 1647 Bridget Cromwell1624–1662 Cardinal Mazarin1602–1661 Catherine de’ Medici1519–1589 Catherine of Braganza1638–1705 Charles Fleetwood1618–1692 Charles II of England1630–1685 Charles I of England1600–1649 Elizabeth Bunyand. 1691 Elizabeth I1533–1603 Frances Cromwell1638–1720 Francis, Duke of Guise1519–1563 Francis Bacon1561–1626 George III1738–1820 George IV of the United Kingdom1762–1830 Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden1594–1632 Guy Fawkes1570–1606 Henrietta Anne Stuart1644–1670 Henrietta Maria of France1609–1669 Henry Ireton1611–1651 Henry IV of France1553–1610 Henry Purcell1659–1695 Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester1612–1658 James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth1649–1685 James VI and I1566–1625 Jane Lane, Lady Fisher1626–1689 John Bunyan1628–1688 John Cook1608–1660 John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee1648–1689 John Locke1632–1704 John Moore1761–1809 John Thurloe1616–1668 John Tradescant the elder1570–1638 John Tradescant the Younger1608–1662 John Wallis1616–1703 Lady Katherine Ferrers1634–1660 Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth1649–1734 Louis XIV1638–1715 Mary, Queen of Scots1542–1587 Mary I1516–1558 Mary II of England1662–1694 Nell Gwyn1650–1687 Oliver Cromwell1599–1658 Philip II of Spain1527–1598 Prince Rupert of the Rhine1619–1682 Richard Cromwell1626–1712 Richard Lower1631–1691 Robert Boyle1627–1691 Robert Catesby1573–1605 Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury1563–1612 Robert Clive1725–1774 Robert Harley1579–1656 Samuel Pepys1633–1703 Thomas Cranmer1489–1556 Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron1612–1671 Thomas Harrison1616–1660 Thomas Percyc. 1560–1605 Walter Raleigh1552–1618 William Blake1757–1827 William III of England1650–1702 William Shakespeare1564–1616

Series

Series about Stuart Period (5 series)

Fairmile in Order

by Philippa Gregory 3 books 4.4(31,818)

The Fairmile series follows Alinor and the generations descended from her through the English Civil War, the Restoration and the Monmouth Rebellion. Beginning in a poor Sussex marshland community, the story expands to London, Venice, New England and Barbados as the family moves through trade, migration, marriage and…

Tradescant Novels in Order

by Philippa Gregory 2 books 4.4(6,328)

The Tradescant novels are a two-generation biographical family saga inspired by the gardeners and collectors John Tradescant the Elder and John Tradescant the Younger. Their work for royal and aristocratic patrons connects the development of English gardens and collections to travel, scientific curiosity, patronage and the growth of…

The Stuarts in Order

by Jean Plaidy 7 books 4.3(2,560)

The Stuart novels explore the dynasty from the restoration of Charles II through the Revolution of 1688 and the early eighteenth-century struggle over succession. Court intrigue, royal favourites, hidden marriages and confessional rivalry reveal a monarchy repeatedly threatened by its own family divisions.

The Secret of the Journal in Order

by C. F. Dunn 5 books 4.2(894)

The Secret of the Journal follows Cambridge historian Emma D’Eresby after her research into a seventeenth-century diary takes her to a university in Maine. There she meets the surgeon Matthew Lynes, whose apparent age and carefully guarded family history are incompatible with the evidence contained in the journal.…

Mandeville Series in Order

by Geoffrey Trease 3 books 3.4(15)

The Mandeville Series follows Sir Renold Mandeville and a recurring circle of servants, secretaries, performers and musicians through the political and cultural world of seventeenth-century England. Mandeville introduces the household during the reign of Charles I, while Saraband for Shadows returns to the characters after the civil wars…

Books

30 Best Novels About the Stuart Period

Non-Fiction

30 Best Non-Fiction Books About the Stuart Period

Histories, biographies and reference works are listed separately from the historical novels above.