The Governance of Rutland 1614–1664 is a new publication from Rutland Local History and Record Society, written by Ian E Ryder, that exposes how the county of Rutland was governed during the turbulent seventeenth century.

Using genuine articles and artifacts from this era, Ryder illustrates the approach of the ruling elite to their handling of crime, law and order, poverty, national service, and taxation both local and national. Not to mention the disastrous Plague outbreak of 1642.

The title also discusses the royal government of Charles I, who stepped into power in 1625 and placed new demands, both civil and ecclesiastical, on the county authorities. His decision to dispense with Parliament removed the traditional route for counties to express grievance, and clashes ensued.

This clash between these two sources of power, local and national, eventually broke out into civil war.

Although the majority of Rutland's major landholders supported the king, its parliamentary minority was able to control the county through outside military support.

Examples of the war's impact on Rutland include a belated rush to secure the county's munitions stored at Oakham and an individual hurriedly burying a substantial hoard of coins at Ryhall.

With the war came large demands for money, for goods to supply the garrisons at Burley and Rockingham, and for the billeting of soldiers, with each faction exacting penalties on their opponents.

Once the fighting was over, the monarchy was restored and taxation was increased to cover the high cost of war. Security concerns changed from suppression of royalists to that of religious dissent, which ultimately changed the layout of religion nationally.

Tim Clough, the Rutland Local History and Record Society's honorary editor, said, "We are so lucky that many hundreds of Rutland individuals are listed in the various taxation, military, voting, poor and other records which form the basis of Ian's study. We are making their details available online as a supplement to the book because they form an immensely valuable resource for local and family historians." This will be found at www.rutlandhistory.org/governanceofrutland

The author of this title, Ian Ryder, is the Society's Honorary Treasurer and Membership Secretary and has written previously about the civil war in Yorkshire and Ireland. He is the author of the Society's Common Right and Private Interest: Rutland's common fields and their enclosure. His article on the State of Education in early Victorian Rutland in Rutland Record 31, was short-listed in the British Association for Local History's awards for research and publication in 2013.

The new book will be launched at a meeting of the Society to be held in Oakham Church at 7.00pm on Friday 3rd December. Ian Ryder will give a talk entitled '1642 - a difficult year for Rutland and a Civil War.'

Copies will be available at a members' price of £12.00 and wine and soft drinks will be served after the talk.

After the event the price of the intriguing new title will be £15.00 plus £3.00 UK p&p. Copies can be ordered by post, or online www.rutlandhistory.org