"Dr Stoyle's account deserves to become the standard authority. He ranges widely in the sources to describe and explain the circumstances by which parliamentary authority was ousted and replaced by Royalist administration until the final siege of Exeter in 1646. He explores the tensions between the commands of Berkeley and Goring on the Royalist side, and convincingly analyses conflicts between military and civic authority." (Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries 1998) "Dr Stoyle is to be congratulated on a book which is highly readable and widely accessible, which presents a lively and engaging account, but which also makes an important contribution to our knowledge of the urban sector before and during the civil war." (Southern History, Vol. 18, 1997) "This is of more than local interest, since Exeter offers something of a case study, challenging the view that in provincial urban communities little concern was shown there for national issues until citizens were faced by the mind-concentrating demands posed by war in the kingdom . Similar searching reinspection of other urban centres is called for." (Cromwelliana).