Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-59) was one of the foremost historians of the Whig tradition. This hugely influential five-volume work, published between 1848 and 1861 to great popular acclaim (although it was not without its critics), traces the development of constitutional monarchy between 1685 and 1702.

Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800-59) was one of the foremost nineteenth-century historians in the Whig tradition, which saw history as a series of developments towards enlightenment and democracy. He believed that the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 had preserved England from the constitutional upheavals suffered by much of Europe in 1848. Using a wider range of sources, including popular literature, than was then usual, and written in an accessible, novelistic rather than academic style, this five-volume work proved hugely influential upon contemporary historians and phenomenally successful with the public, although it was not without its critics. The first two volumes, published in 1848, were by 1849 in their third edition, which is reissued here. Volume 1 examines the constitutional history of Britain up to the Restoration, Charles II's reign, fears of a return to an absolutist monarchy, and Whig attempts to exclude the Catholic James II from the succession.