THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR (1642-1651)

THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR (1642-1651)

STUDENT NAME

INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION

The British historians named the first English revolution as the English civil war. It was also referred to as the great rebellion. The series of these civil wars were fought between 22nd August 1642 when the war first began through to the 3rd September 1651. The war was triggered by the difference over which the manner of England was governed thus developing the series of war between parliamentarians and royalists. The main cause of this was said to be Religion, which had been part of the Europe conflict between the Roman Catholics and protestants (Manning,1992). The blame for the breaking of the war during that time was due to the mismanagement of money in which King Charles I was not good at. These events in history developed when King Charles ascended to the throne in 1625 that saw a battle at the hill in 1642, that was followed by a battle at Marston moor in 1644 and the battle at Naseby in 1645 that saw Charles I surrender to the scots in 1646 who eventually sold him to the English parliament in January 1647 whereby he escaped in November the same year leading to a new second civil war that erupted in 1648 (Woolrych,2017). In the year 1649, Charles I was tried and executed as Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660.

The battle was between the Royalists also known as cavaliers that included Charles I, Prince Charles the son of Charles I who later became King Charles II and Prince Rupert who was the nephew of Charles I they were against the Roundheads also referred to as parliamentarians that included; Oliver Cromwell who was a gentleman farmer and Member of Parliament that later became Lord Protector(Woolrych,2017). The war used many weapons through their series of attacks, these weapons ranged from knives to swords and a number of firearms that included, riffles, pistols, muskets and artillery that included cannons. The civil war cannons were useful weapons in the civil war fights as some of these used by the union and confederate fighters included the 12-pound Howitzer, the parrot rifle that was 10 pound and an ordinance rifle that was 3 inches. The use of civil war gun led to the development and technological advancement in gun power such as the use of rifled barrels. The widely used weapons throughout the civil war were the swords and sabers. With the Minnie ball a type of bullet that was designed to expand along the riffle to enlarge its accuracy and range.

The development of the English civil war after the taking of the throne by King Charles I was seen by his lack of comprise and understanding. Queen Elizabeth I left a strong kingdom that was prosperous to her predecessor James Stuart. Queen Elizabeth I had the power of understanding and compromising religion and power matters so as to keep the subjects loyal (Manning,1973). Neither James I nor his Son Charles I had the flair of statesmanship Elizabeth I had thus setting themselves on a collision course with the parliament. The start of the city was not developed as a revolution as those who were involved had no intention of replacing the monarchy with a republic but through the series of royal authority and religion, conflict attituded led to an escalated armed conflict (Manning,1992). Charles I, had thought that he was ruling by the will of God hence his authority and decisions could not be questioned as he believed to be ruling with the Devine rights of Kings. Led by the lord protector of England statesman Oliver Cromwell led the parliamentary forces in the English civil wars to oppose Charles one ideology of divine rights of kings and that his decisions could be challenged as the Royal authority had to be limited as the people and their parliamentary representatives had to have a say on how the kingdom would be governed.

The arguments were tied up together with religion and arguments over the church where there was deep divide over the structures of church organization, forms of worship and the religious practices (Manning,1973). The ambition of Charles one to unify Scotland, Ireland and England under the same kingdom worried some Englishmen who had feared for their rights (Reed,1984). This worry was brought upon by Charles I when he did not accept the traditional limitations imposed on the King of England. England was predominantly a protestant Kingdom and the marriage of Henrietta Maria of France by King Charles I in 1925 spiked controversy (White,2017). The divisions under the ruling of King Charles I hit all areas especially the religion sector. Even though the king had committed to support the Anglicans he often acted in favor of the Roman Catholics, which led to the upper class seeking more orthodox Calvinist approaches that sought to develop a model of society in which individuals were responsible for their faiths. The reign of James I with controversy upon the marriage of Henrietta Maria of France in 1925 saw an eruption of division between the King and parliament in 1928 when the king sought to introduce new tax laws as well as William Laud appointment as archbishop of the Canterbury which divided the king from the Anglican majority in 1933 that was followed by Calvinist ideas(White,2017). These actions by Charles I intensified the rift of division among the kingdom members over the management of power and religion.

Religion as a part cause of the civil war that was later termed as the great rebellion was developed and intensified as the king often acted in favor of the Roman Catholics spiking differences amongst his parliament whose majority was Anglicans (Hughes,1998). The marriage of Maria Henrietta at the start of 1925 of France a fervent catholic saw the inclusions in her marriage treaty that allowed her to practice her religion freely in court (White,2017). The treaty had also conditions for King Charles I to lift restrictions on Catholics who did not accept to attend Anglican Churches. At this time the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I had seen persecutions of many protestants thus in England the Roman Catholics was to be feared and distrusted. The previous encounters and attempts by the roman catholic led by Philip II of Spain to invade England, the plot of gun powered in 1605 that was aimed at blowing James I and the 30 years war that saw the Romans try to wipe out Anglicans and other protestants in Europe made the tension and development of the English war a conflict resolution method(Manning,1992).

King Charles I who believed to be ruling with the divine rights of kings were deeply religious as he preferred a high form of Anglican worship that was characterized with ceremonies, rituals and ornamentations that were lavish. However, e thought it would be important to have the hierarchy of priests in the Anglican church which caused an alarm as the protestants viewed Charles’ opinion to be guided and hence leaning to the Catholicism practices (Hughes,1998). The extreme protesters who were referred to as the puritans had viewed the form of worship that Charles I, took were forms of popery that the Anglicans had campaigned against. These rituals, ceremonies and lavish ornamentations were all practices that were associated with the Pope or the papal system in the catholic church hence the puritans wanted pure forms of worships that did not include rituals and did not have icons and images of religion (Manning,1973). The Anglicans had the notion that they connected to God on an individual basis thus there was no need for bishops and the hierarchy of bishops. The appointment of Laud in 1933 to head the as archbishop of the Canterbury accelerated the divisions that led to armed war with the Anglicans.

Although Laud was a protestant, just like Charles I he preferred the high form of Anglican worship and also viewed the puritans to be too extreme. Laud considered bishops important in the day to day activities of running the church and hence wanted to impose a uniformity in instances of worship that was based on the common prayer book. He opted to re-introduce ceremonies and rituals with the decoration of windows and re-introduction of statues and other decorative features. He insisted that as a sign of elevated status in the clergy priests should wear a vestment. Whereas Laud saw this as the beauty of holiness the protestants saw it as an attempt to make the church look more like Roman Catholics. These changes saw too much opposition that Laud saw puritans as a threat to the church hence pursuing his critics in courts.

King Charles I and his Archbishop Laud introduced a new prayer book that saw riots breaking at Edinburgh in Scotland were the Presbyterians viewed the book as to be having many similarities with the catholic one. This move by the king and Bishop was viewed as an attack on the religion and freedom of choosing how to worship (Manning,1973). Scotland although under king Charles I had their own government that established the church and its rules as the kirk whereby the king declared refusal for the full implementation of his book would amount to an attack on his royal authority. Hence, their would-be punishment for those who would not fully implement the new prayer book. The Scottish people in 1638 signed a covenant with God to protect the true religion and loyalty to the king. However, in 1639 the king sent soldiers to enforce the new prayer book in Scotland, already distrusted among his subjects as to impose the Roman religion on them, the king was viewed as declaring war amongst his loyal subjects. In what was termed as the first Bishops war the English army was easily defeated (Manning,1973).

King Charles was also defeated in the second Bishop war in 1640 whereby he was forced to sign a treaty that of Ripon which required him to pay the Scottish troops daily maintenance of 840 euros a day as they still occupied the northern region of England. Money was another key factor that led to the breaking out of the civil war as King Charles lacked the money. His father the king he preceded led a lavish lifestyle that saw the royal treasury left depleted. The cost of maintaining the royal household was similarly expensive. As a patron of art King Charles, I spent large sums of money on entertainment and purchase of artworks. The parliament in 1625 had allocated the king income from customs for a single year rather than a lifetime as was customary hence the need for the king to convene a parliament session to grant further taxes (Woolrych,2017). The parliament, however, refused to grant the King enough money to finance his military campaigns against France and Spain that led to a forced loan which caused so much discontent amongst his subject as failure to repay the loan resulted to imprisonment without Trial (Hughes,1998). A common’s petition in 1628 was drawn and it stated that the King cannot impose taxes on the subjects without parliament assent, although it was agreed upon by the king, it was never enacted as a statute properly. King Charles I in 1629 dismissed parliament and developed what he termed as a personal rule as the others termed it as eleven years of tyranny. As taxes were only granted by parliament Charles I had to find alternatives sources of revenue that saw him impose kinghood fees on landowners, selling monopolies to rich merchant reinstating forest limits to initial boundaries thus fining anyone in the forest boundary, he demanded ship money from all counties of England not just those at the coast (Woolrych,2017)..

After the first bishop war defeat, Charles I after eleven years called parliament to request for money to finance his Scotland quest but the parliament having a long list of grievances declined his request causing him to dissolve the parliament in less than a month and proceeding to the second Bishop war that he lost and was forced to sign a treaty to pay maintenance fee to the Scottish covenanters 850 euros per day. With the huge debts, the king had no option but to call for the longest parliament seating to ask for money. This situation was translated to be that it was the only parliament that was able to raise money to cover the cost of the unsuccessful Bishop wars quest. This finally provided a platform for parliament to air their grievances and push through with the reforms (Hughes,1998).

The parliament in the development of the English civil war had seen a breakdown of the relationship between the monarchy and parliament from the reign of James I as well as Charles I who viewed parliament as interference to his rule. Parliament had their purposes such as airing grievances that should be heard, passing legislations hence could be used for advice and it was necessary to raise taxes (Woolrych,2017). Even though with these purposes it was withing the King’s prerogative to call for the sitting of parliament. During the civil war when king Charles called for parliament to request for money for his second bishops war quest. With the outspoken puritan MP John Pym expressing concerns on the king’s governance and need for their grievances heard they denied the king the finances through taxes prompting the king to dismiss the parliament after three weeks which became the shortest parliament (Woolrych,2017). The longest parliament came after the defeat of the bishop wars where the grievances of the MPs were heard which mostly focused on the king’s personal rule. Other grievances included the reforms by Laud that were considered to be too catholic, the misusing of the royal prerogative to raise money such as ship money and the act by the king to dissolve parliament rather than hearing the grievances. The MPs complained that the King was unduly influenced by most of his closest advisors, they blamed bad advice rather than the king for these problems.

Laud was impeached for treason in 1640 and with a bill of attainder passed against him his trial began in 1644 and he was executed in 1645. In 1641 MP Pym accused the earl of Ireland of treason and had him impeached and executed (Reed,1984). The king sent troops to help him at the Tower of London but was defeated. The lord deputy of Ireland had become the deputy chiefs in the Bishops Wars. The rescue attempts failed with protests at London streets that demanded justice, the king signed the bill of attainder against the earl Stafford who was executed in May 1641. I these actions parliament wanted to view their roles and palace in running of the country as they were made secure (Reed,1984). They tried to remedy the political and religious problems that had developed as a result of the personal rule by Charles I. with puritans demanding more reforms on religious practices the moderate protestants disagreed on the radical changes the puritans were suggesting thus this group became allies of the king.

The road to the civil war broke in 1641 when the Irish Catholics massacred the protestant settlers in Ulster (Hughes,1998). Hence the need for the keen to assemble an army to suppress the conflict, this although spiked up an argument on whether it was Parliament or the King who was to control the army with puritans fearing that the army might be against the parliamentarians after the Irish surge had suppressed(Manning,1992). The Irish rebellion had also re-ignited fears of roman catholic plots against protestants in three kingdoms that were the England kingdom, Scotland and Ireland (Reed,1984). As the house of common demanded to print of Grand Remonstrance and be made public to the to ordinary members King Charles I replied that not everyone in parliament or England was a puritan.

The abuse of parliament privilege by Charles I made his loose some political support with fear that he could reinstate the personal rule. King Charles rejected proposals for parliament to control the military under the ordinance as individuals were forced to choose to be mobilized under the commission of array or under the ordinance. The royalists and parliamentarians seized the military and rushed for ammunitions from the store with high polarization it was more difficult to be neutral and as King Charles I raised his royal standard on nothing ham in 1942, the civil war had openly been declared (Hughes,1998).

The parliamentarians won the second civil war in 1648 when they captured two commanders of the royalist were executed by firing after the Colchester had surrendered to Sir. In Thomas Fairfax on 28th august. I December 1648 the army surrounded the house of commons and allowed only MPs who supported the trial of Charles I to enter. Which was referred to as the pride’s purge after it was successfully overseen by colonel Thomas pride. The other MPS made up of what was called the Rump Parliament as the high court of justice was established to put the king on trial. On 27th January of 1649 King Charles, I was sentenced to death and was executed at the Whitehall, London on 30th of December 1649(Hughes,1998).

The third civil war was developed when Charles II signed a treaty of Breda with the Scottish Presbyterians that he promised to sign the covenant in return they help him ascend to the throne. In February of 1649, Charles II had already been proclaimed as king of Scotland and had returned in 1650 in Scotland to sign the covenant (Hughes,1998). Oliver Cromwell had also returned in 1950 after a successful campaign against royalists and Irish Confederates in Ireland. On 3rd of September 1950, Oliver Cromwell defeated the Scottish at the Dunbar battle where he captures Edinburgh in December (Woolrych,2017). After being crowned king of scone in 1951 with his covenant army Charles II crossed the border to England in august 1651 whereby, he was defeated by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of a Worcester in which the war resulted to the escaping of Charles II to France thus ending the series of civil wars.

References

Hughes, A. (1998). The causes of the English civil war. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Manning, B. (1992). 1649: the Crisis of the English Revolution (pp. 130-32). London: Bookmarks.

Manning, B. (Ed.). (1973). Politics, Religion and the English Civil War. Edward Arnold.

Reed, D. (1984). Ireland, the Key to the British Revolution (pp. 158-159). London: Larkin Publications.

White, M. (2017). Henrietta Maria and the English civil wars. Routledge.

Woolrych, A. (2017). Battles of the English Civil War. Pickle Partners Publishing.