"Citizens at the door": Mobilising against the enemy in civil war London

Abstract

This article considers how the image of the enemy was deployed by parliamentarian activists in civil war London. It focuses on the "malignant party" identified in parliamentary discourse as guilty of dividing crown and parliament and precipitating civil war. Endorsing the reality of this party became a means for activists to assert their status as those most "well-affected" to parliament, and to legitimise their own political agency within the terms of parliamentary discourse. By learning to speak the language of parliament, these activists were able to participate in the construction of the parliamentary cause, and to shape its future.