Thomas Hobbes ─ Behemoth or the Long Parliament

Behemoth is Thomas Hobbes's narrative of the English Civil Wars from the beginning of the Scottish revolution in 1637 to the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, and is his only composition to address directly the history of the events which formed the context of his writings in Leviathan and elsewhere on sovereignty and the government of the Church. Although presented as an account of past events, it conceals a vigorous attack on the values of the religious and political establishment of Restoration England. This is the first fully scholarly edition of the work, and the first new edition of the text since 1889. Based on Hobbes's own presentation manuscript, it includes for the first time an accurate transcription of the passages which Hobbes had deleted in the text, and notes made by early readers.

Paul Seaward is Director of the History of Parliament. He has written on politics in Restoration England, on Clarendon and his History, and on Parliament from the seventeenth century to the twentieth. His publications include The Cavalier Parliament and the Reconstruction of the Old Regime, 1661-67. He is general editor (with Martin Dzelzainis) of the Oxford edition of the works of Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon.