This book offers an account of the life and career of Thomas Rainborowe, a significant figure in the English Civil War in both military and political terms. His involvement in the sea-borne Irish Expedition of 1642 was followed byservice as an infantry leader within the Eastern Association and the New Model Army, where he achieved particular distinction as a siege commander. In the context of the New Model's burgeoning political role, Rainborowe emerged at the Putney Debates [a landmark in the history of the political philosophy] as perhaps the most cogent spokesman for the radical/Leveller cause; but his association with the abortive Leveller-inspired mutiny at Ware, and his hostility toward continued negotiation with Charles I, led to his fall from grace with Cromwell and the `grandees'. Despite this, he re-emerged as a pre-eminent siege-commander at Colchester; but, en route to impose a more rigorous siege of Pontefract Castle, he was assassinated at Doncaster, in highly suspicious circumstances, in November 1648.
Written in a lively and accessible style, this is the first full-length study of a man whose importance has been hitherto neglected.