It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  It was a time of economic prosperity, but of an oppressive monarchy.  It was 1640, and the Puritan Revolution was upon England.  An ill-mannered King Charles I ruled with great disdain for the common people, and the financial and political powers of his monarchy were dwindling under a newly developed capitalist economy.  But while the collective influence of many issues of the time eventually lead to the English Civil War, economic factors played the leading role.  The virtues of nobility and religion served as mere masks to more self-interested intentions.

In the seventeenth century, England was suffering under an ignorant ruler.  The country had emerged from a period of poor leadership under an idiotic King James, who knew nothing about England.  His successor Charles I cared not for the common...