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You are here: UK History > Evolution of British politics > English Civil War
The English Civil War took place over the course of around 20 years, with war, regicide and then military rule with power swapping from monarchy to parliament and eventually, back again.
The war was fought between those who supported parliament, known as the Roundheads or Parliamentarians, and those who supported the right of the King, the Cavaliers or the Royalists.
While we know it as the English Civil War, it was actually a series of wars. The first (1642-1646) and the second (1648-1649) saw the supporters of the King Charles I and supporters of the Long Parliament fighting. The third (1649-1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The wars also involved the Scottish Covenanters and Irish Confederates, ending with a Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3rd September 1651.
The outcome of the war saw the trial and execution of Charles I in 1649, the exile of his son, Charles II (1651) and the replacement of the English monarchy with the Commonwealth of England. From 1653, the Commonwealth was ruled via the personal rule of Oliver Cromwell. On his death, Cromwell’s son Richard took over, but his leadership only lasted a year. The lasting outcome of the wars was the idea that an English monarch cannot govern without the consent of parliament. This became law as part of the Glorious Revolution in 1688, when James II was replaced with his daughter and her husband as monarch.
After the death of Queen Elizabeth I, she was succeeded by her cousin, King James VI of Scotland, who would rule as King James I of England and VI of Scotland, which created the first personal union of the Scottish and English kingdom.
As King of Scots, James had assumed control of the Scottish government in 1583 but found that the English Parliament were much harder to manipulate. Despite this, his reign saw a period of peace between England and Scotland and by the time his son Charles I ascended, he planned to unite England, Scotland and Ireland into one single kingdom. Parliament seemed suspicious of this, concerned that such a move would destroy English traditions.
At the time of the Stuart rule, England’s parliament did not have a large permanent role in government. Rather it was a temporary advisory committee and was summoned only when the monarch saw fit. Once summoned, parliament’s existence relied heavily on the monarch’s discretion and could be dissolved at any time. Despite this, parliament had acquired enough power that monarchs could not ignore them indefinitely. Parliament had the power to raise tax and that was really the only source of revenue that exceeded the crown’s other sources of expenditure. From 13th Century onwards, monarchs ordered the election of representatives to sit in the House of Commons, with the majority of those assembled being landowners, though in some areas, every male householder could vote. When assembled along with the House of Lords, these representatives formed a parliament. Though this allowed for debates and the enacting of certain laws, parliament lacked the power to force its will upon the monarch – the only way they could do so was by withholding finances from the crown.
In 1625, Charles I married a Roman Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, which raised concerns among parliamentarians. Parliament refused to assign the king the right to collect custom duties for his entire reign, deciding instead to grant it only on provisional basis.
Rather than discuss with parliament, Charles decided to send a force to France to aid the Huguenots who were being besieged by the French King. This military support for a protestant group, alleviated concerns about a marriage to a Catholic, but Charles insisted on giving command to George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, a personal favourite of his and someone that Parliament and other nobles disliked. Parliament began impeachment proceedings against the Duke resulting in Charles dissolving parliament to save his friend, but only led to many believing that the king was actively avoiding scrutiny. However, without Parliament, the king was unable to raise any money, so he ended up assembling a new version of parliament, which included Oliver Cromwell among its elected members. This new parliament drew up a Petition of Right which Charles accepted in order to gain money. Several members of parliament were imprisoned, with one dying in prison and becoming somewhat of a martyr for others.
Charles I avoided calling parliament for the next ten years, in a period that is known both as the Personal Rule of Charles I and the Eleven Years’ Tyranny, depending on who you ask. During this time, Charles’ policies were mainly determined by his lack of money, this led him to avoiding war, which effectively ended England’s involvement in the Thirty Years’ War.
Unable to raise money without parliament and not wanting to bring parliament back, Charles resorted to using outdated methods to gain revenue. During this time, Charles also caused issues with the church. He believed in High Anglicanism and began making the church more ceremonial. This led to the accusation of trying to reintroduce Catholicism, with Charles retaliating by imprisoning those who complained. Charles attempted to apply these same policies in Scotland, with the hope that he could create a uniformed church throughout Britain. Part of this was introducing a new version of the English Book of Common Prayer to Scotland, though this was violently resisted with a riot breaking out in Edinburgh. This led to the Bishop’s Wars with Charles eventually conceding that he would not interfere with Scotland’s religion.
In order to suppress the rebellions in Scotland, Charles had to form a new government, though neither king or parliament could agree, leading Charles to dissolve it within a few weeks. This period of parliament became known as the Short Parliament.
Without the support of parliament, Charles attacked Scotland again and was defeated with the Scots invading northern England. He managed to raise funds for the ongoing issues by using taxes from Ireland. The money was sourced from the Irish gentry in return for religious concessions, something he later tried to implement in Scotland but to no avail. By 1640, the whole of Northern England was occupied and Charles was forced to pay £850 a day to keep the Scots from advancing, putting him in a desperate financial state. As King of Scots, he had to find money to pay the Scottish army but as King of England, he had to find the money to defend England. He could not raise revenue in England to do this without parliament, so eventually was forced to summon a new English parliament.
The new parliament was even more hostile to the king than the Short Parliament had been. In return for financial support, they forced various reforms, including many anti Catholic measures upon him. One of these included a law stating that parliament would have to meet once every three years, with or without the say of the king. Other laws made it impossible for the king to impose taxes, gave parliament control over the king’s ministers and made it illegal for the king to dissolve parliament without its consent, even if the three years were up. These laws created an increase in power for parliament. This version of parliament became known as the Long Parliament.
Charles and his supporters continued to resent the demands placed upon them by parliament, while parliamentarians suspected Charles wanted to rule without them. In January 1642, Charles, along with 400 of his soldiers, entered the House of Commons and attempted to arrest five members for treason. He failed, with the Speaker of the House buying enough time for the men to escape.
As these matters came to a head, England began to divide into factions, with many of the lower classes lending support to the parliamentarians, believing that the king did not care for their wellbeing.
Following the failed attempt to arrest members of parliament, Charles, fearing for the safety of his family, left London, heading North. He and parliament continued to negotiate, mostly via letter but this proved fruitless. By the summer, English lords and other representatives in parliament, came up with a list of proposals for the king which included parliament receiving a larger share of governing power. The king rejected this.
As the autumn neared, Parliament and the King’s forces began to establish territories and a number of battles broke out between the two. Charles eventually sought sanctuary in Scotland, but the Scottish handed him over to parliament and he was imprisoned, marking the end of the First English Civil War.
The second English Civil War started after negotiations between King and parliament failed. Charles signed a secret treaty with the Scots in return for their help in restoring him to his throne, which in turn, kick started the fighting.
The Second English Civil War ended with the trail and execution of Charles I. His secret pacts and supporter’s attempts to free him, caused parliament to debate whether to return him to power at all. The Army, annoyed by parliament’s attempt to negotiate launched a purge, known as Pride’s Purge after their commanding officer. The purge saw 45 members of parliament arrested and a further 146 forbidden from entering the chamber, only 75 members were allowed in and then only at the army’s bidding. This became known as the Rump Parliament and received orders to set up a High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I for treason.
At the end of the trial, 59 people found Charles I guilty of high treason as a “tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy.” The king was sentenced to death and was beheaded outside the front of the Banqueting House of the Palace of Whitehall on 30th January 1649.
After the regicide, the king’s oldest son, the Prince of Wales was proclaimed King Charles II in Jersey and Edinburgh, though was not recognised as such in England.
Following the restoration, the surviving judges from Charles I’s trial were executed or sentenced to life in prison.
The execution of Charles I changed the dynamics of the relationship between the Royalists and the Covenanters in Scotland. Scotland had recognised Charles’ son as the king, but this support led parliamentarians in England to view him as a threat to an English republic. Oliver Cromwell, who had been in Ireland suppressing rebellion there, returned to England and attacked Edinburgh. By the end of the year, his forces occupied most of southern Scotland. Eventually, Cromwell engaged and defeated the English royalists in Worcester, however Charles II managed to escape via a safe house and an oak tree and fled to France. Parliament claimed control of England, with resistance continuing in Ireland and Scotland.
The republican government of the Commonwealth of England ruled over England until the death of Oliver Cromwell in 1658. On his death, his son Richard became Lord Protector, but the army had little confidence in him. After seven months, the army removed Richard and re-installed the Rump Parliament, however, this was dissolved shortly after as well.
On 4th April 1660, in the Declaration of Breda, following a Scottish invasion, Charles II made known the conditions of his acceptance of the Crown of England. On 8th May 1660, it was declared that Charles II had reigned as the lawful monarch since the execution of his father, Charles returned from exile later in the month. By the end of May, the populace of London acclaimed him as king, with his coronation taking place at Westminster Abbey in an event known as the Restoration.
Though the monarchy was restored, it was only done so with the consent of parliament, leading towards a parliamentary monarchy form of Government. The outcome of this was that the future kingdom of Great Britain was able to forestall the kinds of revolutions seen in Europe which resulted in the absolute abolition of the monarchy. Parliament would end up effectively choosing the line of succession as proven with the Glorious Revolution and the denouncing of James II’s Catholic offspring as future monarchs.
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