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The turbulent events of the seventeenth century, especially the civil wars and interregnum, and their effect on all aspects of life, are most clearly felt through the cumulative study of the regions. This book explores politics, government and society in Nottinghamshire, showing how the county was bitterly divided by the civil wars. It examines the workings of the small elite, four resident earls and a baronet, who controlled Parliamentary elections, and explores how, especially after 1641-42, this elite increasingly had to take into account popular politics. The work of the justices of the peace, militia officers, tax collectors and forest officers is analysed, assessing how far they were already powerful in their own right after 1603, and how far they could act independently of central government; finally, the study shows that even after the restoration of the old regime in 1660, the effect and lessons of the years 1640-1660 could not be ignored. PETER SEDDON...