English Civil War

 

 

The reasons for the fighting had mostly to do with power, money and religion.

In the 17th century, the king had a lot of power over England with one exception: he could not raise taxes unless the Parliament of England agreed to it. Parliament represented the gentry (middle class), and no king could raise taxes without its help. Scotland and Ireland also had parliaments, but they did not have nearly as much power. When King James VI of Scotland inherited the Englsih throne and became James I of England, he disliked having to work with parliament. He was more used to ruling in Scotland, where the king was far more powerful. James I also spent more money than previous kings and queens.

Both James I and his son Charles I believed in the "divine right of kings" that God gave kings the right to do anything they wanted over their lands.^[2] However, there was a difference between them since James I accepted that he could not get what he wanted all the time, but Charles I always wanted to get his way.

After becoming king in 1625, Charles I quickly got into arguments with Members of Parliament. From 1629 to 1640, he shut Parliament down and ruled without it. That was legal as long as he did not raise taxes. He used some legal tricks to raise money without bringing back Parliament. For example, he used "ship money", a tax that had been paid by coastal towns in times of war. Charles I started charging it to all towns even when there was no war. That was unpopular, but judges decided that it was legal.^[3] Those years were known as the "Eleven Years' Tyranny" by the king's enemies.

In the previous century, the Protestant Reformation, including the Engllish Reformation, had encouraged new ideas and struggles. In England, there was movement called the Puritans, who wanted a "pure" religion. They believed that the Church of England was too much like the Catholic Church, which it had left. In particular, they did not want the church to have bishops. There was a similar movement in Scotland. The Church of Scotland had bishops as well but had many differences drom the Church of England.

On the other hand, Charles I and Archbishop William Laud tried to change the Church of England. They brought back incense, bells and decorations to churches, as found in Catholic churches. That worried the people who hated Catholicism, especially the Puritans. Besides, Charles I married a French princess, Henrietta Maria, who was a Catholic.

In 1637, Charles I tried to introduce a new prayer book in Scotland that was very similar to the English Book of Common Prayer, without asking the Parliament or the Church of Scotland.^[4] Many Scots hated the prayer book and saw it as an attempt to change the religion of their country.^[5] Riots broke out in Edinburgh, and unrest spread throughout Scotland. A rebellion movement began in Scotland, which became known as the Covenanters.

In 1639, the rebellion led to the Bishops' Wars in Scotland. The war cost so much money that the King called a new Parliament in England to raise taxes. However, the Members of Parliament did not want to work with Charles and instead complained about the king's actions (such as ship money) during the "Eleven Years' Tyranny". He shut Parliament down again but struggled to stop the Covenanters without new taxes. Another problem was that many English people agreed with the Covenanters and did not want to help fight them. The Covenanter army invaded England and marched into Northumberland and County Durham. It refused to leave unless it was paid money.

To raise that money, the King had no choice but to call another Parliament, which became known as the "Long Parliament". Over two thirds of the elected members of the Long Parliament opposed the king.^[6] While the opponents had no proper leader, John Pym was their most important member. The Long Parliament passed laws to stop the king from shutting it down and reved many of the king's cars. It even had his friend Earl of Strafford executed.

 

In 1641, the Irish Rebellion broke out^[7] because Irish Catholics feared the Protestants in the Long Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters. The King now needed money to fight this rebellion, which strengthened Parliament. Parliament would also take control of the army in 1642.

In January 1642, Charles I marched into Parliament with guards, to arrest five Members of Parliament, including Pym and Hampden, who disagreed with him. The five men found out that he was coming and escaped. No king had ever entered the main chamber of Parliament before, and many members were shocked.^[8] It was disaster for Charles.^[9] He failed to catch his enemies, and many Members of Parliament who had not been enemies became afraid of him.^[10] They decided that the only way to protect themselves was a raise an arm against the King.

 

In mid-1642, both sides started travelling around the country to gather supporters and weapons.^[11] On 22 August, Charles raised the royal flag in Nottingham. By doing so, he was announcing that he was at war with Parliament.

The King found more support in the countryside, the poorer parts of the country, and northern and western England. Parliament found more support in most cities, ports, richer parts of the country, and southern and eastern England.^[12][13] Most of those who were secretly Catholic supported the King. The Royal Navy and most Puritans supported Parliament. Some areas supported Parliament because of local problems such as the land drainage works in The Fens.^[14]

The Royalist armies were led by Prince Rupert, the king's nephew. The Parliamentarian arms were at first led by the Earl of Essex. The Royalists decided they would try to fight the Parliamentarians quickly and so went to meet them in Warwickshire.^[15] The first major battle was the Battle of Edgehill, in October 1642, which ended in a draw.^[16] The King tried to return to London but was blocked by the Parliamentarian army. He moved with his arms to Oxford, where he had more loyal followers.^[17]

The first year of the war went fairly well for the Royalists. They strengthened their control over the north and west.^[18][19] Their progress was slower in the Midlands though they captured Lichfield.^[20] After mid-1669, the Parliamentarians started to do better. They won battles in Lincolnshire,^[21][22] in the east,^[23] and at Newbury, west of London.^[24]

King Charles made a deal with the Irish rebels to stop the fighting in Ireland to free up soldiers, who could fight for him.^[25] The Parliament made a deal with the Scottish Covenantors, who would help them. It was also helped by a talented arm leader called Oliver Cromwell. He led a cavalry (horse riders) unit called the "Ironsides". They were better organised than most cavalry units, which made them far better at fighting.^[21][26]

 

Helped by the Scots and the Ironsides, Parliament won a major victory at the Battle of Marston Moor, in July 1644.^[27] It took control of northern England.^[28][29] The Royalists were weakened but not yet defeated. They won the Battle of Lostwithiel, in Cornwall, by defeating Essex's soldiers.^[30] They also managed to fight to a draw at another Battle of Newbury in October.^[31]

In 1645, Parliament organised its soldiers into the New Model Arm. The Earl of Essex was replaced by Sir Thomas Fairfax. Oliver Cromwell became Fairfax's deputy.^[32] The New Model Arm was better organised than any army that had come before it. They defeated the King's largest army at the Battle of Naseby in June 1645.^[33] Most of the Royalist soldiers at Naseby were taken prisoner.^[34] Charles escaped Naseby but left behind his baggage, which had letters inside them. The Parliamentarians opened them and found out that the King was trying to get help from the Irish Catholics and from Catholic countries. The king lost support because of this.^[35]

The other main Royalist army was defeated at the Battle of Langport, in Somerset, one month later. The Parliamentarians took control of South West England, where they had been weak.^[33] King Charles tried to gather his remaining supporters in the Midlands. Many fortress towns in the area from Oxford to Newark-on-Trent were still loyal to him. In May 1646, Charles met a Scottish army in Nottinghamshire.^[36] The Scots took him prisoner.^[37]

Although the Parliamentarians had won, they were divided on how to run the country. One major argument was over religion. Most Members of Parliament wanted a Presbyterian national church. The New Model Arm favoured allowing local churches to run themselves, with no national church. The defeated Royalists publicly supported the existing Church of England, but some were secretly Catholic. Both Parliament and the army tried to win support of the king and the Scottish Presbyterians. Charles was in prison and was passed between the groups. He refused to make a deal with any of them because he believed that only he had the right to rule over England. He pretended to be interested in making a deal while he planned to take back control of the country.^[38] The divisions became worse when Parliament tried to disband the New Model Arm.

A second war broke out when some Scottish Presbyterians, called the Engagers, and some English Presbyterians allied with the King.^[39] They agreed to support him in return for making the Churches of England and Scotland into Presbyterian churches.^[40] The Scots invaded England, and Royalist rebellions broke out in various parts of England.^[41] Some of the rebellions were defeated very easily. The rebellions in Wales, Kent, Essex and Cumberland were stronger but were put down by the New Model Army.^[40] The Royalists and Scots were defeated at the Battle of Preston in August 1648.

 

The New Model Army was in control. In an event called "Pride's Purge", Colonel Thomas Pride removed all Members of Parliament who had not supported the army. Only 75 members were left. The army put them in charge of the country, and this Parliament was called the Rump Parliament.

The Rump Parliament decided not to work with King Charles anymore.but to put him on trial. On 27 January 1649, the trial found him guilty of treason and called him a "tyrant, traitor, murderer and public enemy".^[42][43] He was beheaded three days later.^[44]

Many historians say that the execution of King Charles was an important moment in English history and even in the history of the Western World. No European monarch had ever been put on trial by their own people.^[b] Other countries in Europe stated the execution was wrong, but they did not do much else.^[45][46] Not all Parliamentarians supported the execution. Fairfax did not like it, resigned as leader of the New Model Army, and was replaced by Cromwell.

The next king would have been Charles's son Prince Charles, the future King Charles II. Parliament announced instead that England would become a republic, called the Commonwealth of England. However, Charles could still become King of Scotland.

The third English Civil War was actually more of a fight between Scottish and English armies, and much of it was fought in Scotland.

In 1649, the Marquess of Montrose started a rebellion in Scotland in support of King Charles II. Rather than support Montrose, Charles decided to ally with the Scottish Covenantors, who feared that England would stop Scotland from having a Presbyterian church.^[47] Montrose was defeated by Scottish armies in April 1650.^[48] In June, Charles landed in Scotland and signed an agreement with the Scottish Covenantors.

Cromwell travelled to Scotland and arrived the following month.^[49] Over the next year, he took control of the main parts of Scotland. When Charles fled to England, Cromwell followed him and left George Monck to finish winning the war in Scotland.^[50] When that was done, Scotland became part of the Commonwealth of England.^[51]

Charles's army marched across England to the west, where the Royalists had the most support. However, they could not find as many supporters as they wanted. Cromwell found them and defeated them at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.^[47][52] Charles fled to the Netherlands and would not return until 1660.

 

The Irish rebellion, which started in 1641 continued until 1653. It was fought mainly by Irish Catholics against armies of the English Parliamentarians, Scottish Covenantors and Protestant settlers in Ireland. At first, the rebels fought English Royalist armies as well, but that mostly stopped after September 1843. Seven months after the rebellion began, the rebels created their own government in Kilkenny, which was known as the Irish Catholic Confederation.

In 1649, Cromwell went to Ireland and put down their rebellion. He was remembered in Ireland as a brutal invader, particularly because of the large numbers of people killed at the Siege of Drogheda.^[53]

The wars left England, Scotland and Ireland all as part of the Commonwealth of England, one of the few countries in Europe without a monarch. After the wars had ended, Cromwell disbanded the Rump Parliament and took over the country. He chose to be "Lord Protector", rather than King, because many people did no want another king. His government was called "the Protectorate" or "the Commonwealth". The period from 1649 to 1660 is also called the English Interregnum (meaning gap between kings).

Cromwell ruled the country until he died in 1658, when his son Richar, took over as Lord Protector. However, the army did not consider Richardto be a good ruler.^[54] After seven months, the army removed Richard, and in May 1659, it reinstalled the Rump Parliament.^[55] However, the army did not get on with the Rump Parliament either and disbanded it a second time. There were fears that England would not have a proper government.^[56][57]

George Monck, a key leader in the army, arranged for a new Parliament to be elected.^[58] On 8 May 1660, the it decided to restore the monarchy with Charles II as the king. He returned to England later that month.^[59] That event is known as the English Restoration.^[60] Scotland and Ireland went back to being separate countries, and the prewar churches returned.

Although the monarchy returned, the Civil War had long-lasting effects. The war made it clear that an English king could no longer rule without the support of Parliament. The law was not changed to limit the his power, which was done after the 1688 Glorious Revolution. Historians consider the Civil War to be a stage in England and Scotland's long journeys from being an absolute monarchy to becoming a democracy.^[61]

In Ireland, the defeat of the rebellion strengthened the Protestants's power. That was one of the reasons for Ireland being ruled by Protestants from the late 17th century to the 20th century even though most Irish people were Catholics.

The English Civil War was fought with "pike and shot" tactics, which were used in most other wars from the late 15th to the late 17th centuries. Armies were divided into three main groups:

• Musketeers: They fired a type of gun called a musket, which was not as powerful or easy to use as a modern gun.
• Pikemen: They carried a very long spear, called a pike, and had as their main job task to stop the enemy's cavalry.
• Cavalry: They were horse riders who would charge at the enemy's musketeers and, if very skilled, could charge at the enemy's pikemen.

At first, the Royalists had a better cavalry since their riders were faster and more skilled. Prince Rupert had fought in the Eighty Years' War in the Netherlands and used the lessons learned there to improve his cavalry.^{[62][63][page needed]} However, the Royalist cavalry sometimes failed to work as a team. At the Battle of Edgehill, many of them decided to chase fleeing soldiers or steal from the Parliamentarian baggage wagons.^[64] The Royalists might have won the battle if their cavalry had stayed together.^[65]

Cromwell's "Ironside" cavalry were slower but worked better as a team. It helped the Parliamentarians win some key battles.^[26][62] The Parliamentarians sometimes had a problem of pikemen running away when the Royalist cavalry charged at them. Cromwell and Fairfax trained them to stay in place.

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