John Poyer, the Civil Wars in Pembrokeshire and the British Revolutions

This is the first book of the ‘turncoat’ John Poyer, the man who initiated the Second Civil War through his rebellion in south Wales in 1648. John Poyer, the Civil Wars in Pembrokeshire and the British Revolutions charts Poyer’s rise from a humble glover in Pembroke to parliament’s most significant supporter in Wales during the First Civil War (1642–6), arguing that Poyer was a more complex and significant individual than most commentators have realized.

Poyer’s involvement in the poisonous factional politics of the post-war period (1646–8) is examined, and newly discovered material demonstrates how his career offers fresh insights into the relationship between national and local politics in the 1640s, the use of print and publicity by provincial interest groups, and the importance of local factionalism in understanding the course of the civil war in south Wales. John Poyer, the Civil Wars in Pembrokeshire and the British Revolutions also offers a substantial analysis of Poyer’s posthumous reputation after his execution by firing squad in April 1649.