Constitutional Monarchy and Summary
Overview
Statewide Dual Credit Modern World History: Unit 3, Lesson 2
Discussion of the English Civil War and the events that led up to it, including the tensions between the Stuart kings and Parliament. It also covers the aftermath of the war, including the rise of Oliver Cromwell and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy, and the Glorious Revolution that established William and Mary as constitutional monarchs.
The English Civil War adapted from Statewide Dual Credit World History | CC By-SA
Background to the English Civil War
England in the early modern period was a region of intense political, religious, cultural, and social divisions. One of the most significant difficulties for the country was the newly established Protestantism of Henry VIII that created many internal divisions. These divisions, coupled with a newly growing group with political power, brought intensity to the conflicts throughout the period. With the rise of the Stuart Dynasty, a new king from Scotland brought new divisions. These deep fissures would eventually crack, causing the English Civil War. In many ways, the English Civil War can be seen as an extension of the Thirty Years War that ravaged Europe during the 17th century. The result was a complete change in England’s political and cultural landscape.
When Queen Elizabeth I died without an heir, James VI, her cousin, and King of Scots, succeeded her to the throne of England as King James I in 1603. This united Scotland and England under one monarch. He was the first of the Stuart dynasty to rule Scotland and England. He, and his son and successor, Charles I of England, reigned England during a period in which there were escalating conflicts with the English Parliament. One of the key problems that the new king James faced was the growth of a middle class in England that was powerful enough to have political power. The middle-class growth that arose from trade and mercantilism had enough capital that they could be seated in Parliament. This meant that James’ political fortunes were linked to his success in getting the middle-class Protestants to follow his ideas. To make matters more difficult for James, although he was a Protestant, he leaned more toward a broader Protestantism that did not emphasize some of the Church of England's distinct traditions. This would lead to deeper divisions between James and the Anglican middle class in Parliament.
James I and the English Parliament
James developed his philosophy about the relationship between monarch and parliament in Scotland, and never reconciled himself to the independent stance of the English Parliament and its unwillingness to bow readily to his policies. It was essential that both the King and Parliament understood their relationship in the same manner. Yet, this goal fell short under the new king. James I believed that he owed his superior authority to God-given right, while Parliament believed the king ruled by contract (an unwritten one, yet fully binding) and that its own rights were equal to those of the king.
Charles I and Parliment
King James I's reign proved fraught with tension, despite its successes in establishing English colonies in the New World. Time and again, the new king had butted heads with Parliament. But under James' successor and heir, King Charles I, England would plunge into chaos and discontent that culminated in civil war, and the new monarch's head on a chopping block. In 1625, Charles married French princess Henrietta Maria. Many members of the lower house of Parliament were opposed to the king’s marriage to a Roman Catholic. Although Charles told Parliament that he would not relax religious restrictions, he promised King Louis XIII of France, that he would do exactly that when Charles married his Catholic daughter, Henrietta Maria.
Charles I’s attempt to impose taxes not authorized by Parliament contributed to the ongoing conflict between the king and Parliament and eventually resulted in the passing of the 1628 Petition of Right.
Charles demanded over £700,000 to assist in helping fight the European war. The House of Commons refused and instead passed two bills granting him only £112,000. In addition, rather than renewing the customs due from Tonnage and Poundage for the entire life of the monarch, which was traditional, the Commons only voted them in for one year. Because of this, the House of Lords rejected the bill, leaving Charles without any money to provide for the war effort.
After the Commons continued to refuse to provide money, Charles dissolved Parliament. By 1627, with England still at war, Charles decided to raise “forced loans,” or taxes not authorized by Parliament. Anyone who refused to pay would be imprisoned without trial, and if they resisted, they would be sent before the Privy Council. Although the judiciary initially refused to endorse these loans, they succumbed to pressure. While Charles continued to demand the loans, more and more wealthy landowners refused to pay, reducing the income from the loans and necessitating a new Parliament being called in 1627.
However, because it did not meet the king’s requirements and threatened his political allies, Parliament was once again dissolved. Nevertheless, since Charles was unable to raise money without Parliament’s permission, he assembled a new one in 1628. The new Parliament drew up the Petition of Right, and Charles accepted it as a concession to obtain his subsidy. The Petition did not grant him the right of tonnage and poundage, which Charles had been collecting without parliamentary authorization since 1625.
Charles I avoided calling a Parliament for the next decade, a period known as the “personal rule” or the “eleven years’ tyranny.” During this period, Charles’s lack of money determined policies. First and foremost, to avoid Parliament, the king needed to avoid war. Charles made peace with France and Spain, effectively ending England’s involvement in the Thirty Years' War.
The English Civil War and Aftermath
Although the English Civil War began in 1642, it was the second war within the English Civil War that proved the critical turning point in English History. In 1648, the Parliamentarians (Roundheads) claimed victory against the Royalist Cavaliers. Parliament became controlled largely by the Rump Parliament comprised primarily of extremists who supported Parliament over the king. Among the most important, if also unlikely, figures to arise from the chaos was Oliver Cromwell-an extremist himself renowned for his position as second-in-command of the New Model Army. With the Cavaliers' defeat, and Parliament in the hands of extremists, King Charles I's fate was sealed by the end of 1648. In January 1649, England executed its king as a traitor and established a commonwealth.
Oliver Cromwell and the Commonwealth of England
Oliver Cromwell was relatively obscure for the first forty years of his life. He was an intensely religious man (an Independent Puritan) who entered the English Civil War on the side of the “Roundheads,” or Parliamentarians. Nicknamed “Old Ironsides,” he was quickly promoted from leading a single cavalry troop to being one of the principal commanders of the New Model Army, playing an important role in the defeat of the royalist forces.
The Commonwealth of England was the period when England, later along with Ireland and Scotland, was ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I (1649). The republic’s existence was declared by the Rump Parliament on May 19, 1649. Power in the early Commonwealth was vested primarily in Parliament and a Council of State. During this period, fighting continued, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, between the parliamentary forces and those opposed to them, as part of what is now referred to as the Third English Civil War.
In 1653, after the forcible dissolution of the Rump Parliament, Oliver Cromwell was declared Lord Protector of a united Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland under the terms of the period now usually known as the Protectorate. The term “Commonwealth” is sometimes used for the whole of 1649 to 1660, although for other historians, the use of the term is limited to the years prior to Cromwell’s formal assumption of power in 1653.
Cromwell died of natural causes in 1658, and his son Richard succeeded as Lord Protector. Richard sought to expand the basis for the Protectorate beyond the army to civilians. He summoned a Parliament in 1659. However, the republicans assessed his father’s rule as “a period of tyranny and economic depression” and attacked the increasingly monarchy-like character of the Protectorate. Richard was unable to manage the Parliament and control the army. In May, a Committee of Safety was formed on the authority of the Rump Parliament, removing the Protector’s Council of State, and was in turn replaced by a new Council of State. A year later monarchy was restored. In 1661, Oliver Cromwell's body was exhumed. Royalists hung the body in chains in Tyburn, London, before throwing it into a pit and then severing the head. Cromwell's head was then stuck atop a spike outside Westminster Hall until 1685, and later sold to various owners until the mid-twentieth century.
Restoration of the Stuarts
Over a decade after Charles I’s 1649 execution and Charles II’s 1651 escape to mainland Europe, the Stuarts were restored to the English throne by Royalists in the aftermath of the slow fall of the Protectorate. For those who had remained loyal to King Charles I, they would find a new champion in his son, King Charles II.
The Glorious Revolution adapted from Statewide Dual Credit World History | CC By-SA and World History Encyclopedia | CC By-NC-SA
The return of the Stuart Dynasty under Charles II (r. 1660 -1685) marked the beginning of the Restoration period. Charles II became known as the "Merry Monarch" not only for his generosity to friends (He gave the colony of Pennsylvania to his friend William Penn) and his love of festive parties and lovely actresses, but also due to his efforts to work cooperatively with Parliament. He received generous subsidies from his cousin, Louis XIV of France, and he used these funds to bribe members of Parliament to support his government. He also dispensed other gifts to prominent members of Parliament. For example, in 1663 he granted Anthony Ashley Cooper, the territory of Carolina, just south of the colony of Virginia.
Charles II, however, had no legitimate children, so his younger brother, James, the Duke of York (and proprietor of the colony of New York) assumed the throne as James II in 1685. James II, however, was Roman Catholic, which was very troubling to members of Parliament. Members of parliament took solace in knowing that James II was an old man, and his two adult daughters and heirs, Mary and Anne, were both Protestant and married to Protestants. James II was more like his father and grandfather than his older brother, as he was openly dismissive of Parliament, and he believed in the divine right of kings. James had re-married a much younger Roman Catholic woman, Mary of Modena, and in 1688 she gave birth to a son, James.
William and Mary
According to English legal tradition, male heirs took precedence over female heirs, regardless of the age of the heirs. Members of Parliament were horrified that James II would be someday succeeded as king by a young, Roman Catholic prince, James III. Parliament decided to take action to prevent this outcome, and Parliament offered the throne to James II's eldest daughter, Mary, who was married to William of Orange, the Stadtholder of the Dutch republic. William was eager to accept this offer since England under James II was allied to his enemy, Louis XIV of France, who had waged a brutal war against the Dutch. William and Mary in 1688 crossed over to England with an army. Support for James II in England vanished, and without any warfare, William and Mary were crowned as William III and Mary II, King and Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This event became known as the Glorious Revolution.
This historical development was a revolution in which Parliament asserted itself as the sovereign authority in the state by deciding who was to be the monarch. The notion of divine right was thereby rejected. This event was glorious in that William and Mary were installed as constitutional monarchs without bloodshed, in England anyway.
SUMMARY
The 17th century was a time of turmoil in Europe. In France, Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to Louis XIII, was instrumental in consolidating royal authority and centralizing power by weakening the nobility and suppressing religious dissent. Louis XIV's reign solidified French absolutism and established a strong, centralized monarchy that would influence European politics for centuries to come. However, their policies also laid the groundwork for the social and economic tensions that would eventually lead to the French Revolution. In contrast, the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution established a constitutional monarchy in England, laying the groundwork for democratic governance. The Thirty Years War, while devastating, ultimately weakened the Holy Roman Empire and paved the way for the rise of nation-states. These events collectively contributed to the decline of feudalism, the rise of nationalism, and the development of modern political and economic systems.