To think of the English Civil War is to think of dandified, gentlemanly cavaliers fighting the cause of the King against the puritanical roundheads and their zeal for social revolution. From this popular image, history has tended to favour the roundheads. For all their perceived priggish distrust of pageantry, dance, colourful dress and fun in general, the forces of Cromwell were seen as the forces of the people, of the common good, and their cause as being just. The cavaliers on the other hand were seen as caricatures of hedonistic, upper crust louts and layabouts who did nought but wear foppish hats and keep the peasants downtrodden. In recent years this overwhelmingly negative image of the cavaliers [as well as the term itself] has been reassessed to offer a more balanced view of the wide mix of people who actually sought to advance the royalist cause. While still grouping his favoured subjects together as Reprobates, in his new book John Stubbs sets out to investigate the rise and fall of the cavaliers and to provide a balanced account of the men behind the title. It’s particularly noteworthy and surprising, given its subtitle, that Reprobates deals only very briefly with the English Civil War itself. Stubbs begins his account sometime around 1613, several decades before the Civil War actually breaks out, and continues until well into the Reformation. The War itself and the ultimate execution of Charles I seem to occur over the course of just a couple of chapters. Bearing this in mind, Reprobates would not be the ideal first source for someone wishing to learn about the details [particularly the battles] of the Civil War. This is not to say that it is a book lacking in detail, rather that it provides a detailed focus on a rather narrow element of the War. The reason for this narrow focus is that Reprobates is not really a history of cavaliers either. John Stubbs is here really focused on the ‘Tribe of Ben’, a select [and certainly entertaining] group of royalist literary figures who congregated in the taverns of London and worshipped at the altar of Poet Laureate Ben Jonson. While very few of the group could be considered as brave, noble and committed to their cause [and even fewer of them actually survived to see out the Civil War] they were all drawn by romanticism and undeniable class loyalty to the royalist cause and most fit the image of the token cavalier. Of those poets under consideration, William Davenant [syphilitic, lost nose] and John Suckling [syphilitic, retained nose] receive the most attention but Henry Jermyn, Thomas Carew, James Howell, Robert Herrick and Endymion Porter also feature prominently. Despite having been largely forgotten by history, these men were interesting and infuriating characters. They wrote noble words but very rarely followed through with noble deeds. Though often occupied with pleasure-seeking, fortune hunting and intrigue, each of these poets had access to powerful relations, rich patrons and famous faces at court and so they were able to witness the political chicanery that led to one of the most destructive episodes in English history. Stubbs uses the lives and works of his selected poets to portray the human face of the royalist cause. Through Davenant, Sucking and co., Stubbs introduces some of the more famous characters from this turbulent period in history: King James ponders and prefers caution when dealing with European neighbours; Charles I and the Duke of Buckingham undertake a quixotic journey to Madrid to woo the Spanish Infanta; the Swedish King Gustavus demonstrates short-lived military prowess; van Dyck paints portraits of the royal children; and Prince Rupert leads his celebrated cavalry charge. There are plenty of other important characters who do not always receive as much discussion as they seem to merit. Still, it is amazing to witness the extent to which the lives and careers of a group of now fairly obscure poets intersected with the memorable figures and events from the Civil War period. With Reprobates John Stubbs has succeeded in illuminating a literary movement, the central figures of which helped, however ineptly, to shape the fortunes of a nation. While the Civil War itself is only a relatively minor event in the course of the book, Reprobates offers a unique approach to the social and political history of a tumultuous period in English history and as such is a very interesting and informative read.