James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby, was a pivotal figure in the Civil War in Lancashire, between 1642-51, and in governance of North-West of England across a quarter of a Century. As Lord of the Isle of Man, he enjoyed quasi-royal powers and fostered a court culture on the island which expressed itself through poetry, plays, masques and conspicuous display. A religious visionary and man of letters, he was a supremely gifted peace time administrator who was suddenly thrown into the maelstrom of a civil war for which he was neither prepared nor militarily suited. He was a bright and reflexive courtier, conscious of the need for compromise, who was destroyed through his role in the massacre of Bolton, in 1644, and by the mistrust and ingratitude of successive Stuart monarchs. Triumphing at the battles of Warrington, he tasted bitter defeat at Sabden Brook and Wigan Lane. Yet he, more than perhaps anyone, was saviour of the Royalist cause after the Battle of Worcester, when he spirited the fugitive King Charles II to Boscobel Hall. Incredibly, 'the Great Stanley' has had no biographer until now. This book reveals him in his glory and his tragedy as Cavalier and Lord of Man.
