May 1640: We begin this fascinating and appalling chapter of British history. Charles I, who has been on the throne for 15 years, has been at odds with Parliament, mainly because of his habit of collecting taxes arbitrarily without parliamentary permission to fight lost wars in Spain and now in Scotland. Whenever Parliament rejected his legal right to the money, he dismissed it. Well, these troubles and the catastrophe they are about to erupt, are now on hold, if not forgotten in the home of a Sir Martin Lacey, who seems to have married his eldest daughter to a young lawyer, who is the son of a self-made shipping company tycoon in the North Country, and doesn't have much hope of betrothing his young daughter to the son of an earl. Preparations are in hand at Arnescote Castle for two weddings. Anne Lacey is a very willing bride, but her sister Lucinda shows herself to be more than reluctant. Original Broadcast Date Sunday, 16th October 1983