This volume throws new light on the innumerable dilemmas of conscience of men and women of the 17th century in England when established authorities were questioned and violently disrupted. The tension between public duty and private conscience is a central theme of this period. It has also been an important theme in the work of the historian of the period, G.E. Aylmer. The contributors are leading historians, whose topics range from contemporary writings on conscience and duty to the particular problems faced by individuals and groups, both Puritan and Royalist, at the centre and in the localities. Paul Slack is the author of The Impact of Plague in Tudor and Stuart England and Poverty and Policy in Tudor and Stuart England . John Morrill is the editor of Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution and The Impact of the English Civil Wars .