This book is an exploration of the pivotal role of the monarchy in the affairs of society and State in England from the middle of the 15th century to the middle of the 17th. The main theme of the book is that there was an implied compact between the crown and the aristocracy which broke down in the 15th century when the king failed in his public obligations. It claims that the Tudors restored and renovated that relationship and that the early Stuarts by contrast withdrew within the increasingly narrow context of the royal court until Charles I gave the opposition no alternative but revolution and war.