This work investigates the political and military origins of the English Civil War, seeking to document the constitutional crises and personal rivalries that fractured the nation during the mid-seventeenth century. Edward Hyde, the Earl of Clarendon, served as Lord High Chancellor under Charles II, providing him with an insider's perspective on the royalist cause. His narrative framework relies on a combination of personal observation, state papers, and contemporary accounts to construct a defense of the monarchy and an analysis of the parliamentary opposition. The text serves as both a historical record and a political justification for the Restoration era.

Historians recognize this text as a foundational, if partisan, primary source for understanding the royalist perspective on the English Civil War. Readers frequently note the dense, formal prose style characteristic of eighteenth-century historiography, which requires careful attention to follow the complex political arguments presented.