Virginia Under Charles I and Cromwell, 1625-1660

Description

Upon the ascent of the Stuart king Charles I in 1625, the Crown revoked the charter of the Virginia Company and instituted a royal charter for the Virginia Colony. This work follows the history of Virginia from that point until 1660–one of the most turbulent times in English history. The central colonial figure during this period of Virginia history was Sir William Berkeley, who served as royal governor, with interruptions, between 1642 and 1676. Governor Berkeley, whose rule prior to 1660 was extraordinary for its evenhandedness, was successful in restraining the colonists’ itch for land, particularly as the encroaching frontier settlements set the stage for Indian reprisals. The period under study by Professor Washburn ends with the Restoration and, in an act unprecedented in American colonial history, the recall of William Berkeley by the Virginia Assembly in 1659.