English Civil War
Overview
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.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze how the Tudor and the Stuart Dynasties affected the political and economic worlds of England.
- Evaluate the impact of the English Civil War on English culture and society.
- Evaluate how the English Civil War related to the other Protestant Reformation problems of the period.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Gunpowder Plot: a failed assassination attempt in 1605 against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby; a plan to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England’s Parliament on November 5, 1605
King James I: Stuart King of England after Queen Elizabeth I, and King of Scotland, during the early seventeenth century
England Following the Tudor Dynasty
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, he was a Protestant yet he was not a member of the Church of England. 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. This set King James I and Parliament on a collision course.
One of the central divisions was the position of political power in England. On the eve of the state opening of the parliamentary session on November 5, 1605, a soldier called Guy Fawkes was discovered in the cellars of the parliament buildings guarding about twenty barrels of gunpowder with which he intended to blow up Parliament House the following day. A Catholic conspiracy led by Robert Catesby, the Gunpowder Plot, as it quickly became known, had in fact been discovered in advance of Fawkes’s arrest and deliberately allowed to mature in order to catch the culprits red-handed and the plotters unawares.
By the 1620s, events on the continent had escalated anti-Catholic sentiment in England. A conflict had broken out between the Catholic Holy Roman Empire and the Protestant Bohemians, who had deposed the emperor and elected James’s son-in-law, Frederick V, triggering the Thirty Years’ War. James reluctantly summoned Parliament to raise the funds necessary to assist his daughter Elizabeth and Frederick, who had been ousted from Prague by Emperor Ferdinand II in 1620. Parliament's House of Commons granted subsidies inadequate to finance serious military operations in aid of Frederick, but called for a war directly against Spain. In response to these measures, James flatly told them not to interfere in matters of royal prerogative and dissolved Parliament.
The failed attempt to marry Prince Charles with the Catholic Spanish princess Maria, which both the Parliament and the public strongly opposed, was followed by even stronger anti-Catholic sentiment in the Commons that was finally echoed in court. The outcome of the Parliament of 1624 was ambiguous; James still refused to declare war, but Charles believed the Commons had committed themselves to finance a war against Spain, a position that contributed to his problems with Parliament.
Charles I & Parliament
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.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Charles I: Stuart king of England during the first half of the seventeenth century
Thirty Years’ War: a series of wars in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648
Long Parliament: an English Parliament that lasted from 1640 until 1660
habeas corpus: a legal action whereby a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment before a court, usually through a prison official
Tonnage and Poundage: certain duties and taxes on every tun (cask) of imported wine, and on every pound weight of merchandise exported or imported
Petition of Right: a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties and rights of the subjects that the king is prohibited from infringing
eleven years’ tyranny: the period from 1629 to 1640, when King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland ruled without accountability to Parliament
Charles I and the English Parliament
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. The treaty placed an English naval force under French control with the purpose of suppressing the Protestant Huguenots at La Rochelle. Charles was crowned in 1626 at Westminster Abbey without his Catholic wife at his side because she refused to participate in a Protestant religious ceremony.
In January 1629, Charles opened the second session of the English Parliament. Members of the House of Commons began to voice opposition to Charles’s policies. Many members of Parliament viewed the imposition of taxes as a breach of the Petition of Right. When Charles ordered a parliamentary adjournment on March 2, members held the Speaker down in his chair so that the ending of the session could be delayed long enough for various resolutions, including Anti-Catholic and tax-regulating laws. The provocation was too much for Charles, who dissolved Parliament. Shortly after the prorogation, without the means in the foreseeable future to raise funds from Parliament for a European war, Charles made peace with France and Spain. The following eleven years, during which Charles ruled England without a Parliament, are referred to as the “personal rule” or the eleven years' tyranny.
The Long Parliament, which assembled in the aftermath of the personal rule, started in 1640 and quickly began proceedings to impeach the king’s leading counselors for high treason. To prevent the king from dissolving it at will, Parliament passed the Triennial Act, which required Parliament to be summoned at least once every three years, and permitted the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal and twelve peers to summon Parliament if the king failed to do so. The tensions between Parliament and Charles began to escalate and would eventually erupt in war.
Charles I and the Power to Tax
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 I of England and the English Parliament
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 to 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, 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.
Martial Law
To cope with the ongoing war situation, Charles had introduced martial law to large swathes of the country, and in 1627 to the entire nation. Crucially, martial law as then understood was not a form of substantive law, but instead a suspension of the rule of law. It was the replacement of normal statutes with a law based on the whims of the local military commander. However, Charles decided that the only way to prosecute the war was to again ask Parliament for money, and Parliament assembled in 1628. As a result, a series of Parliamentary declarations known as the Resolutions were prepared after tense debates. They held that imprisonment was illegal, except under law; habeas corpus should be granted to anyone, whether they are imprisoned by the king or the Privy Council; defendants could not be remanded in custody until the crime they were charged with was shown; and non-parliamentary taxation such as the forced loans was illegal. The Resolutions were unanimously accepted by the Commons in April, but they met a mixed reception at the House of Lords, and Charles refused to accept them.
Tensions between Parliament and Charles increased throughout the 1628 period. Parliament debated on Resolutions, but these ultimately failed because of the tensions between the executive and legislative branches over who had more political power. Leading ultimately to the Petition of Rights. This measure was the basis of the constitutional monarchy, where the king’s power is checked by Parliament. Charles was not happy about the passing of this bill. With increasing zeal, he attacked the bill, unaware that his unpopularity escalated dangerously.
Having dissolved Parliament in 1627 after it did not meet the king’s requirements and threatened his political allies, but unable to raise money without it, Charles assembled a new one in 1628. The new Parliament drew up the Petition of Right, and Charles accepted it as a concession in order 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.
Charles finally bowed to pressure and summoned another English Parliament in November 1640. Known as the Long Parliament, it proved even more hostile to Charles than its predecessor and passed a law that stated that a new Parliament should convene at least once every three years—without the king’s summons, if necessary. Other laws passed by the Parliament made it illegal for the king to impose taxes without parliamentary consent and later gave Parliament control over the king’s ministers. Finally, the Parliament passed a law forbidding the king to dissolve it without its consent, even if the three years were up.
Charles and his supporters continued to resent Parliament’s demands, while Parliamentarians continued to suspect Charles of wanting to impose Episcopalianism and unchallenged royal authority by military force. Within months, the Irish Catholics, fearing a resurgence of Protestant power, struck first, and all of Ireland soon descended into chaos. In early January 1642, accompanied by 400 soldiers, Charles attempted to arrest five members of the House of Commons on a charge of treason but failed to do so. A few days after this failure, fearing for the safety of his family and retinue, Charles left the London area for the north of the country. Further negotiations by frequent correspondence between the king and the Long Parliament proved fruitless. As the summer progressed, cities and towns declared their sympathies for one faction or the other.
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.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
English Civil War: a series of three major military and political wars from 1642-51 between the Royalist "Cavaliers" and the Parliamentary forces, the "Roundheads"
Roundheads: the name given to the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War
Cavaliers: a name first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier male Royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration
The Trial of Charles I: in January 1649, a poorly-constructed trial l with little legal foundation used to justify King Charles' execution
Oliver Cromwell: military commander in the New Model Army and extreme supporter of the Parliamentarians who helped establish the Commonwealth of England after the execution of Charles I
New Model Army: an army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War and disbanded in 1660 after the Restoration
Rump Parliament: members of English Parliament in late 1648-1649 who strongly supported the execution of King Charles I on charges of treason; among them was Oliver Cromwell
Commonwealth of England: period in English history (1649-1660) in which England, Scotland, and Ireland were ruled by Oliver Cromwell and his successor
The English Civil War
Overview
The English Civil War erupted over Charles' policies in 1642. Very quickly, it developed into a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians (Roundheads) and Royalists (Cavaliers). The first war, (1642–1646) and second (1648–1649) wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II (Charles I’s son) and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on September 3, 1651.
The overall outcome of the war was threefold: the trial of Charles I, the exile of Charles II, and the replacement of English monarchy with, at first, the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653), and then the Protectorate (1653–1659) under Oliver Cromwell’s personal rule. The monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestantism in Ireland. Constitutionally, the wars established the precedent that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament’s consent.
The Trial and Execution of Charles I
Charles I was not entirely ignorant of the growing threats the Parliamentarian forces posed to him and his family. Several times, he attempted to escape and moved from city to city for safety. In 1645, he sent his son, Charles II, to France where his mother was waiting for him. For King Charles I, though, escape from England proved far more challenging and his attempts to flee the country were thwarted. The second major war within the English Civil War ended in a victory for the Parliamentarians, and Oliver Cromwell's rising star, in 1648. That victory, and the fact that members of the Rump Parliament were now largely in charge of executive and legislative decisions, led to the decision for the trial of Charles I.
On January 1, 1649 the Rump Parliament charged King Charles I of committing acts of tyrannical violence against his own subjects. Therefore, they accused him a tyrant and also guilty of treason. The declaration polarized politicians. A special court, the High Court of Justice, was established for the purpose of trying the king. As the proceedings began, though, many of the members of the court found the proceedings too extreme and controversial and resigned. Those who remained were members loyal to the Parliamentarians.
The trial began on January 20, 1649 and lasted six days. On the sixth day, the members of the court found Charles Stuart guilty of being a "tyrant, traitor, murderer and enemy of the Commonwealth of England." The next day, Charles was led from court to await his execution.
On Tuesday, January 30, Charles prayed with Bishop Juxon until 10:00 in the morning. He was then dressed in an extra shirt to save him from shivering from the frigid weather. After three hours of waiting in his chambers, Charles and the bishop walked to Whitehall, where a low-lying chopping block was assembled. Charles reportedly prayed, and said, "I go from a corruptible crown to an incorruptible crown; where no disturbance can be; no disturbance in the world." A few minutes later, the execution severed Charles' head with a single ax blow before an assembled crowd.
After the death of Charles, Oliver Cromwell established the Commonwealth of England and later became its Lord Protector.
Oliver Cromwell’s Rise
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. Cromwell was one of the signatories of King Charles I’s death warrant in 1649, and he dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England as a member of the Rump Parliament (1649–1653). He was selected to take command of the English campaign in Ireland in 1649–1650. His forces defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country, bringing an end to the Irish Confederate Wars. During this period, a series of laws were passed against Roman Catholics (a significant minority in England and Scotland but the vast majority in Ireland), and a substantial amount of their land was confiscated. Cromwell also led a campaign against the Scottish army between 1650 and 1651.
In April 1653, he dismissed the Rump Parliament by force, setting up a short-lived nominated assembly known as Barebone’s Parliament, before being invited by his fellow leaders to rule as Lord Protector of England (which included Wales at the time), Scotland, and Ireland from December 1653. As a ruler, he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy. He died from natural causes in 1658 and the Royalists returned to power in 1660, and they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, and beheaded.
Cromwell is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles, considered a regicidal dictator, a military dictator, and a hero of liberty. However, his measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterized as genocidal or near-genocidal, and in Ireland, his record is harshly criticized.
The English Protectorate
Despite the revolutionary nature of the government during the Protectorate, Cromwell’s regime was marked by an aggressive foreign policy, no drastic reforms at home, and difficult relations with Parliament, which in the end made it increasingly similar to monarchy.
The Commonwealth of England
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 the 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.
The Protectorate
The Protectorate was the period during the Commonwealth when England (which at that time included Wales), Ireland, and Scotland were governed by a Lord Protector. The Protectorate began in 1653 when, following the dissolution of the Rump Parliament and then Barebone’s Parliament, Oliver Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth under the terms of the Instrument of Government.
Cromwell had two key objectives as Lord Protector. The first was “healing and settling” the nation after the chaos of the civil wars and the regicide. The social priorities did not, despite the revolutionary nature of the government, include any meaningful attempt to reform the social order. He was also careful in the way he approached overseas colonies. England’s American colonies in this period consisted of the New England Confederation, the Providence Plantation, the Virginia Colony, and the Maryland Colony. Cromwell soon secured the submission of these, but largely left them to their own affairs. His second objective was spiritual and moral reform. As a very religious man (Independent Puritan), he aimed to restore liberty of conscience and promote both outward and inward godliness throughout England. The latter translated into rigid religious laws (e.g., compulsory church attendance).
The first Protectorate parliament met in September 1654, and after some initial gestures approving appointments previously made by Cromwell, began to work on a moderate program of constitutional reform. Rather than opposing Parliament’s bill, Cromwell dissolved them in January 1655. After a royalist uprising led by Sir John Penruddock, Cromwell divided England into military districts ruled by Army Major-Generals who answered only to him. The fifteen major generals and deputy major generals—called “godly governors”—were central not only to national security, but also to Cromwell’s moral crusade. However, the major-generals lasted less than a year. Cromwell’s failure to support his men, by sacrificing them to his opponents, caused their demise. Their activities between November 1655 and September 1656 had, nonetheless, reopened the wounds of the 1640s and deepened antipathies to the regime.
During this period Cromwell also faced challenges in foreign policy. The First Anglo-Dutch War, which had broken out in 1652, against the Dutch Republic, was eventually won in 1654. Having negotiated peace with the Dutch, Cromwell proceeded to engage the Spanish in warfare. This involved secret preparations for an attack on the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and resulted in the invasion of Jamaica, which then became an English colony. The Lord Protector also became aware of the contribution the Jewish community made to the economic success of Holland, then England’s leading commercial rival. This led to his encouraging Jews to return to England, 350 years after their banishment by Edward I, in the hope that they would help speed up the recovery of the country after the disruption of the English Civil War.
In 1657, Oliver Cromwell rejected the offer of the Crown presented to him by Parliament and was ceremonially re-installed as Lord Protector, this time with greater powers than had previously been granted him under this title. Most notably, however, the office of Lord Protector was still not to become hereditary, though Cromwell was now able to nominate his own successor. Cromwell’s new rights and powers were laid out in the Humble Petition and Advice, a legislative instrument that replaced the Instrument of Government. Despite failing to restore the Crown, this new constitution did set up many of the vestiges of the ancient constitution, including a house of life peers (in place of the House of Lords). In the Humble Petition, it was called the “Other House,” as the Commons could not agree on a suitable name. Furthermore, Oliver Cromwell increasingly took on more of the trappings of monarchy.
Cromwell's Death and Legacy
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.
Cromwell is one of the most controversial figures in the history of the British Isles, considered a regicidal dictator or a military dictator by some and a hero of liberty by others. His measures against Catholics in Scotland and Ireland have been characterized as genocidal or near-genocidal, and in Ireland his record is harshly criticized. Following the Irish Rebellion of 1641, most of Ireland came under the control of the Irish Catholic Confederation. In early 1649, the Confederates allied with the English Royalists, who had been defeated by the Parliamentarians in the English Civil War. By May 1652, Cromwell’s Parliamentarian army had defeated the Confederate and Royalist coalition in Ireland and occupied the country—bringing an end to the Irish Confederate Wars (or Eleven Years’ War). However, guerrilla warfare continued for another year. Cromwell passed a series of Penal Laws against Roman Catholics (the vast majority of the population) and confiscated large amounts of their land. The extent to which Cromwell, who was in direct command for the first year of the campaign, was responsible for brutal atrocities in Ireland is debated to this day.
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.
Attributions
Images from Wikimedia Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/The_Execution_of_Charles_I_of_England.jpg
Text modified from Boundless: https://www.coursehero.com/study-guides/boundless-worldhistory/protestantism/
Historic Royal Places. "The Execution of Charles I."
https://www.hrp.org.uk/banqueting-house/history-and-stories/the-execution-of-charles-i/
British Civil Wars, Commonwealth, and Protectorate Project: 1638-1660. "The Trial of King Charles I."
http://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/the-commonwealth/trial-of-king-charles-i