The English Civil War

Overview

• Trigger Events

• Short & Long Parliament

• Polarization of Factions

• The War

Trigger Events

The English Civil War1640-1648

Its causes, course of events, and eventual settlement

Overview

• Background

• Developments Prior to James I

• Conflict between King and Parliament– The accession of James I– Rising tensions under Charles II

• The Long Parliament

• The Civil War

• The Interregnum

• The Restoration of the Stuarts

Background

• The War itself was fairly brief; fighting was pretty much confined to the period 1642-5– the devastation was mild in comparison to the Thirty Years

War– like the Thirty Years War it involved a tangle of religion and

constitutional issues– unlike the Thirty Years War, it involved no foreign troops

other than the Scottish, who would be formally incorporated into a single polity with the English in the early 18th century - the Act of Union (1707)

– to understand the war, it is necessary to review the legal, socio-economic and religious developments that preceded the accession of James I in 1603

Developments Prior to James I

• Rising influence of the House of Commons– Begins in the 14th century

• The power of the purse• Impeachment of royal ministers

• Rising influence of the gentry– Control of local politics– Increasing influence in Commons– The depletion of the nobility in the 15th century– 16th century advances

• Royal patronage• Overseas trade & intermingling with merchant class

Developments Prior to James I

• The English legal traditions– Ecclesiastical Courts– Royal Courts aka “Prerogative Courts”

• Star Chamber (used Roman Law)• Courts of High Commission (distribution of

Ecclesiastical property)• several others

– Common Law reflected medieval practices, such as jury trials

– Reverence for ancient customs & traditions– Statutory laws versus legal holdings

Developments Prior to James I

• The English Reformation– Begins as the most conservative Reformation in

Europe• retains sacraments• retains episcopal structure

– Increasing resentment toward vestiges of papism

– Calls for purification and the emergence of Puritans

• Puritanism spreads among the influential gentry

The Accession of James I (1603-25)

• The debt legacy of Elizabeth• The ideology of absolutism

– Unlimited royal authority– The relationship between the king and the law

• Cultural animosity– James was a Scot– He had little appreciation of English Legal

Tradition– He embraced absolutist principles that were

contrary to Parliamentarian traditions

Conflict between King & Parliament

• The impeachment of royal favorites

• The opposition leader: Sir Edward Coke– Fierce advocate of English common law– His Institutes make him a legendary figure

during his own lifetime– Conflict with James– Coke’s imprisonment– The legend lives on

Rising Tensions Under Charles I

• The Petition of Right – Parliamentary demands– End of imprisonment without cause (habeas corpus)– No taxation without parliamentary consent– No martial law in peacetime– No billeting of troops forced upon citizens

• Charles agrees in order to pass tax levies but then renegs

• Parliamentary outrage ensues• Charles dissolves Parliamentary session

Rising Tensions Under Charles I (1625-49)

• Demands for Ecclesiastical Reforms– Puritans call for presbyterial system– meanwhile James’ wife practices Catholicism

• The ascendance of William Laud (late 1620s)– mild Calvinism; persecution of Puritans, who flee to N.

America– revision of the prayer books– introduction of the new prayer book in Scotland (1637)

• Religious Rebellion ensues– determined Scots vs. apathetic English

• Charles convenes Parliament to obtain money to support troops

The Long Parliament

• Called in November 1640 and lasted 13 years– Opportunity to force political concession from the

crown• Dissolution of royal courts

• Writ of habeas corpus reaffirmed

• Taxation without consent of parliament becomes illegal

• Parliament must assemble at a minimum of once every three years

– Impeachment and execution of Charles’ favorite advisor, the Earl of Stafford

– The emergence of Oliver Cromwell as a leader• Attacks on the privileges of the Anglican Church

• the imprisonment of Archbishop Laud

The Civil War (1640-1648)

• Charles raises an army and declares parliamentary leaders to be traitors

• Parliamentary forces win decisive victory in June 1645

• Initially Parliament sought concession from the king but after two years of inconclusive negotiations, royalist forces resumed the war at Charles prodding

• The Rump Parliament follows the defeat of Charles forces in 1648– early 1649 Charles declared a traitor and executed in

London

The Interregnum (1648-1660)

• Oliver Cromwell established himself as the leading general of parliamentary forces during the civil war– devout puritan

– ardent parliamentarian

– assumes control of the government in the early 1650s as Lord Protector; refuses the crown on several occasions

– dies in 1658

• Profusion of religious factions during the Interregnum– Levellers - salvation depended on the elimination of social hierarchy– Ranters - radical preachers; some thought they were God– Seekers - against religious sects; saw the end of the world approaching

The Restoration (1660-1688)

• After a brief interlude of rule by Cromwell’s inept son, Parliament invites Charles II to accept the crown in 1660

• Charles struggles with many of the same problems that plagued his father and grandfather but Parliament’s supremacy remains unquestioned

• Charles was succeeded by his Catholic brother, James II, whose Catholicism made him highly unpopular

• James II places Catholics in positions of authority• Shortly after the birth of a Catholic heir to the throne,

Parliament began negotiations with William of Orange, a Dutch Protestant married to James eldest daughter, to replace James on the throne

• The Glorious Revolution was a bloodless coup in 1688

Summary

• Unlike the Thirty Years War, the armies of the English Civil War were not composed of mercenaries; for the most part political and religious convictions determined who would fight for the opposing sides; one indication of this phenomenon is the large number of women who volunteered to join the Parliamentarian armies

• The war helped to institutionalize many constitutional principles, including the supremacy of Parliament and the inviolability of English Common Law

• Although the restored Stuarts apparently embraced absolutist principles, the Glorious Revolution permanently ended the pretensions of English monarchs toward absolutism

James I

• Son of Mary Stuart• Ruled England 1603-25• Wrote Concerning the

Divine Right of Kings• His favorite, the Duke of

Buckingham undermined his popularity

• Engaged in ideological quarrel with Sir Edward Coke over prerogative courts

George VilliersDuke of Buckingham

1592-1628

Charles I

• Maintained a lifelong devotion to the divine right of kings

• Even his advocates considered him less than brilliant and lacking people skills

By Van Dyck, 1635

Henrietta Maria

Catholic Queen to Charles I

Archbishop William Laud

1633-45

Reaction to the Book of Common Prayer 1637

The English Try to Impose

Religious Practices on the Scotts

1638

Thomas Wentworth

Earl of Strafford

John Pym

Edward Coke, 1552-1634

• Champion of Common Law against Stuarts’ support of royal prerogative

• Author of the Petition of Right, 1628

• Rival of Francis Bacon

Petition of Right, 1628

Short Parliament April 1640

Long Parliament 1640-1648

Irish Rebellion 1641-1642

The Eve of Edgehill, 1642

Prince Rupert, 1619-82

• Charles’ nephew with mixed record on the battlefield

• Prince of the Palatinate in HRE

• Commander of royalist cavalry

• Animosity with Charles’ English councilors

• Abandoned royalist cause in 1645 shortly after Naseby

• Member of Privy Council under Charles II

English First Civil War, 1642-1645

Marston Moor, 1644

Thomas Fairfax, 1612-71

• Commander of forces at decisive battle of Marston Moor, 1644, which gave Parliament control of York and the North

Thomas Fairfax

• Outstanding military leader who demonstrated considerable personal bravery on the battlefield

• Reluctantly involved in politics

• Refused to sit on council that condemned Charles I

• Retired from politics after Charles II desecrated the remains of Cromwell in 1661

Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1658

• Member of the gentry who had profited from the dissolution

• Parliamentary leader of the New Model Army

• Ardent Puritan but advocated religious toleration

• Lord Protector, 1653-8

The New Model Army

1645

Roundheads & Levellers

Execution of Charles I, Jan 1649

Cromwell Dissolves the

Long Parliament

1649

Puritans

Charles II, 1660-1685The Merry Monarch

How does Friedman explain the loss of popularity for the government of Cromwell and

the Puritans

What were Parliament Ale and Blue Laws and how were they related to this phenomenon?

What does the Blasphemy Act tell us about the mood of the English in

the early 1550s?

What did the pamphlets have to say about various drugs?

How did the stories about witches contribute to this intellectual climate?

What made this civil war a revolution?

Why did the revolution fail?

In what sense did it succeed?

James II, 1633-1701

• Ruled 1685-88• Had extensive military

experience fro service in French and Spanish armies

• Became Lord High Admiral in 1660

• Converted to Catholicism in 1668-9

• Parliament became increasingly concerned over the prospect of his succession

John Pym

Petition of Right, 1628