This book is about the transformation of England's trade and government
finances in the mid-seventeenth century, a revolution that destroyed
Ireland. In 1642 a small group of merchants, the 'Adventurers for Irish
land', raised an army to conquer Ireland but sent it instead to fight
for parliament in England. Meeting secretly at Grocers Hall in London
from 1642 to 1660, they laid the foundations of England's empire and
modern fiscal state. But a dispute over their Irish land entitlements
led them to reject Cromwell's Protectorate and plot to restore the
monarchy. This is the first book to chart the relentless rise of the
Adventurers and their profound political influence. It is essential
reading for students of Britain and Ireland in the mid-seventeenth
century, the origins of England's empire and the Cromwellian land
settlement.