English Civil War was a response to the effects of the Protestant Reformation and a response to the needs of the rising middle
class. The war involved the king, Parliament, nobles, middle class, commoners, and the army. The war tested the privileged kings and
challenged divine right. War raged between Parliamentarians & Royalists, Cavaliers & Roundheads, and every religious sect in England.
England had many years of national disillusionment before 1640. There was a great gap between Royals and Protestants. The Civil War
was both religious & political, and social & economic. It was a legal battle between the king and his people whom he called subjects. In
the late 1500s, economic forces changed English society. The nobility no longer played a key military leadership role. Nobles were losing
authority in the House of Lords. Meanwhile, the House of Commons became the nearly equal of the House of Lords in Parliament.
The gentry, or rising non-noble, rich class, gained power. They were made up of people who made their own money and purchased land
the English king confiscated from Catholics after the protestant Church of England formed. The gentry was involved in trade, which put
them at odds with the nobility who would not dirty their hands in business or work. This new rich class demanded a voice in Parliament.
Their argument was: they helped to increase the wealth of the nation so they ought to help govern. The gentry also sympathized with a
group of protestants called Puritans, a strict religious group who thought the Church of England was too Catholic and needed purifying.
In 1603 King James I [1603 – 1625] inherited the English throne and was an absolute monarch.
King James was the King of Scotland too and the protestant head of the Church of England. But he
was raised in a French-type of court. He was like French kings: arrogant, entitled, privileged. Also,
like the kings of France, he believed in divine right. He said his monarchy was divinely ordained by
God and above the law. James was greedy and recklessly spent his wealth on jewels, castles, and
exploration. In fact he spent twice as much money as Parliament gave him. This brought him into
conflicts with Parliament who wanted to curb his lavish spending. In 1604 James was faced with the
Puritans in Parliament who wanted to purify the Church of England and influence politics. Puritans
reacted against the abuse of James granting patents and monopolies to his worthless favorites. They
challenged his power, said he was too Catholic for their king. He replied, “I will not be content that
my power be disputed.” By 1611, James had enough of Parliament and Puritans, closed down
Parliament and ruled by himself until 1621.
The House of Commons favored Puritanism so that made matters worse with James, whose hatred of
the Puritans ran deep. He promised to “harry them out of this land or else do worse.” From the
Puritan point of view, James hated their religion and their political ideas. James threat to drive the
Puritans out of England was real, so they escaped to the New World [Massachusetts] in 1620.
James I died in 1625 and was succeeded by his son, Charles I [1625-1649]. Unlike his father, Charles was dignified and level headed and
intelligent. He believed in absolute power of the king but Charles stood on the side of the commoners and tried to protect them. However,
like his father, Charles believed in divine right and was definitely pro-Catholic and anti-Puritan. He had a French wife, who the Puritans
resented. He also spent lavishly and fought with Parliament over money. In 1626 Charles closed Parliament. He was at war with Spain,
needed money for his army, and forced the wealthy to loan him money. He put the crown jewels up for collateral and imprisoned anyone
who refused to lend him money. Charles also punished those who spoke out against him. Playwrights and authors could have their ears
cut off for writing offensive plays or books or pamphlets.
In 1628, Parliament met again and voted to give the king supplies for the Thirty Years War. At the same
time they made him accept Petition of Right. It said that the king would observe the rights of his
subjects, demanding an end to: billeting of troops in private homes [Quartering Acts] and trials by
martial law [without habeas corpus]. It declared arbitrary taxation and imprisonment was illegal. In 1629
Parliament passed two resolutions. The first said, whoever brought new ideas of religion into the country
was an enemy of the kingdom. This was directed against Charles and Catholics. The second said, taxes
could not be levied without Parliament’s okay. This too was directed against Charles who taxed the
gentry class. So he dissolved Parliament and it was not called again for eleven years.
In 1640, Charles needed money to finance his war in Scotland, so he called the Long Parliament which
lasted until 1653. Its actions triggered the greatest political revolution in English history. First, it
abolished the high courts. Parliament now tried and executed Charles’ chief ministers, including his
archbishop. It abolished all bishops in the Church of England and said Parliament could never be
dissolved without its own consent! Charles seemed to accept these developments but he was really
building an army to counteract Parliament. In 1641, a Triennial Act passed and said that Parliament
must be called into session at least once every three years and that the power of the king was limited, not absolute. So in 1642, Charles
invaded Parliament and made the bold attempt to arrest opposition leaders in Parliament. These men escaped and raised their own army.
Civil war was inevitable. Royalists in Parliament supported and sympathized with the king. His army of Royalists were called Cavaliers.
Charles won battles in 1642 and 1643.
However, in 1645, a "New Model Army" led by Puritan, Oliver Cromwell defeated the
king’s army. Cromwell was a military innovator and genius. He was a member of the
lesser gentry [not as rich as the higher gentry] and lived the life of a country gentleman
who owned some property. He was also brought up a Puritan. He belonged by birth to
the English ruling class and came from a family that did not really have a great amount
of wealth but had power.
Cromwell’s New Model Army was based on a soldier’s ability rather than on his
position within society. Merit not birth or wealth became the only criteria for
membership -- social class meant nothing.
On the one hand, Cromwell hated arbitrary taxation of subjects, which meant that
property was not safe. On the other hand, Cromwell believed in religious freedom and
toleration. Critics saw Cromwell as a hypocrite because he eventually taxed the English
subjects and turned England into a Puritan state. However, he sincerely believed that
God had chosen him to lead his people and he attributed his military victories to God
rather than to his own strategy and tactic. He led his Puritan army called Roundheads
to victory. These roundheads were conservative in dress and actions like the Puritans.
They did not believe in entertainment and devoted themselves to prayer and God.
In 1646, The Cavaliers were losing the war. King Charles surrendered to the Scots who had once protected him. He hoped by
surrendering to them that he would be treated better. But the Scots sold Charles to Parliament and the Roundheads for 400,000 pounds in
January 1647. The king was imprisoned where he stayed until 1649.
On January 1, 1649, Charles I was charged as an "enemy to the Commonwealth of England." Of the 135 judges who were supposed to
hear evidence, only half showed up. Cromwell allowed only those who supported his position into the trial in Parliament. At first he
opposed bringing the king to justice but then took a leading role at his trial. He vowed, “I tell you we will cut off his head with the crown
upon it.” Charles was convicted of treason. Charles never accepted the judgment and charged that his accusers had been unjust and
tyrannical. No one was safe, not even the king.
January 29, 1649, the death warrant was issued and was signed. The following morning, King Charles I stood on the scaffold and declared
“I am a martyr of the people.” The he was executed. The execution severed his head on the chopping block. The execution sent shock
waves throughout Europe. In the past no ruling monarch had been tried and executed by his own people. The Thirty Years War had ended
the year before. Absolutism was still alive in Europe. England threatened the idea of absolute monarchies and divine right.
After the execution, Cromwell then took his army to Ireland (1649-50) where supporters of the Charles formed an alliance with the Irish.
Cromwell's Irish campaign was a military success. By the time he left Ireland in 1650, three provinces were under English control. But
Cromwell's reputation was stained by massacres at Drogheda and Wexford, which have lived on in Irish folk memory, making his name
one of the most hated in Irish history.
With the death of Charles, the monarchy was abolished and a republic declared. In 1649, the Commonwealth was governed by the Rump
Parliament, an interim government. It was to prepare a permanent representative government but divisions arose between Parliament and
the Army over the form of the new government. Army leaders became impatient over Parliament's stalling to form the new government.
Cromwell tried to moderate, but he too lost patience. In1653, he led soldiers into Parliament and expelled the Rump Parliament. There
was no alternative government in place. Cromwell made no attempt to take over. Long Parliament was dissolved. In 1653, Cromwell
became "Lord Protector of the Commonwealth." He instituted strict Puritan restrictions. Pointless enjoyment was frowned upon.
Cromwell shut inns and the theatres. Most sports were banned. Boys caught playing football on a Sunday could be whipped. Swearing
was punished by a fine. Those who kept swearing could be sent to prison. Sunday became a special day and most forms of work were
banned that day. Women caught doing unnecessary work on Sunday could be put in the stocks. Going for a Sunday walk, unless it was to
church, lead to a hefty fine. To keep the population’s mind on religion, instead of having feast days to celebrate the saints, one day in
every month was a fast day, no food or drink allowed. Cromwell banned Christmas. In London, soldiers were ordered to go to the streets
and take food being cooked for Christmas. The smell of a goose being cooked brought trouble. Christmas decorations were banned.
Cromwell had a pure hatred for the Irish Catholics. He did not tolerate open worship by Catholics. He believed in religious freedom for
Protestants and welcomed Jews back to England. He divided up England into 11 areas; each one governed by a major-general, trusted by
Cromwell. Soldiers enforced Cromwell’s laws everywhere including Ireland. By the end of his life, Cromwell and his major-generals
were hated people. He died in 1658. His son Richard took over but failed.
By 1660, everyone in England had enough of Puritans. After forty years of parliamentary and military strife, Charles II (1660-1685)
returned from exile in the Spanish Netherlands to England without bloodshed. He was not a popular king. He was self- absorbed, lived an
opulent life at court, had numerous mistresses and was probably a Roman Catholic. But the Civil War had ended and the era of the
Restoration began. This new time period marked the reestablishment of the monarchy after the collapse of the Commonwealth
under the Puritans and Cromwell.