It is surprising to learn that the carnage of the civil wars took place against an often unrecognised background of near-constant peace negotiations and that popular agitation for an end to the conflict was frequently expressed in petitions with thousands of signatures and public demonstrations calling for an end to the conflict.
Apart from small groups of radicals, all levels of English society expressed a desire that the two sides should reach a settlement and that the war should end in reconciliation and this thinking profoundly affected the manner in which the war was fought. Indeed around the country some communities sought to declare their neutrality thus questioning the ability of both sides to wage war.
In this absorbing talk, Dr. William White of the University of Hertfordshire explores the stories of those who people who doggedly pursued peace at this time of revolution and conflict.
