The English Civil War
and The Glorious Revolution
The Stuart Dynasty Begins
The Stuart Dynasty
From Tudor to Stuart (1603)
• Queen Elizabeth dies
• Succeeded by James VI of Scotland (becomes James I of
England, Scotland, and Ireland)
England, Scotland, and Ireland
• History of Conflict
• Religious differences:
- England – Anglican
(large Catholic minority)
- Scotland – Calvinist
(large Catholic minority)
- Ireland – Catholic
(large Protestant
minority in the North)
The Gunpowder Plot (1605)
• Failed attempt to kill King James I (and blow up the House of Lords)
• Major conspirators: Provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby and
Guy Hawkes (convicted and hanged)
• Aftermath:
- Immediate spike in antiCatholic legislation
- Loyal Catholics / Leniency
later during the rest of
King James’ reign
Foreign Entanglements:
• James I – wanted to stay out, but dragged into 30
years’ war
• Charles I – involved at the beg. of his reign, but
withdrew in 1630 (sympathized with the Protestant
side)
Frederick V and
Elizabeth Stuart
Charles I: His Rule and Policies
• Married Princess Henrietta Maria of
France (sister of Louis XIII)
• Emphasis on “traditional”
Anglicanism (Archbishop Laud)
and suspected favoritism toward
Catholics – angers Puritans
• 1629 – dismisses Parliament
• Unpopular taxation policies (ex:
Ship money)
• Scottish rebellion (The Presbyterian
Church) forces Charles to call the
Parliament in 1640
• 1641 – Rebellion in Ireland against
“foreign” landowners
On the Brink
• The “Long” Parliament
pushes back (no ship
money tax, the Triennial
Act)
• Puritan MPs want more
• Charles’ attempt to
arrest five radical MPs
fails/backfires
• England divides into two
camps!
Civil War in England: Phase 1
(1642-1646)
Charles I’s Main Rivals
• The New Model Army
(Roundheads /
independents) –
distinguished general –
Oliver Cromwell
• Scottish army (invaded
England from the north)
• Charles I surrenders to
the Scots, but they gave
(“sold”) him up to the
Parliament
The Second Civil War (1647-1649)
• Rivalry develops
between the Puritans
and the Presbyterians
(English and Scottish)
• Charles I stirs up
invasion from Scotland
• Cromwell purges the
Parliament
• Charles I –
condemned by the
“Rump” Parliament
and executed
(Jan.30th, 1649)
The British Commonwealth (1649-1659)
(Brief Republican Period)
• Uprisings in Ireland
and Scotland
• “Radicals” at home
• Cromwell dissolves
the Parliament in
1653
• The Army and the
Lord Protector
(Cromwell)
• Constitutionalism by
force?
Charles II and the Restoration of
the (Stuart) Monarchy
• 1660 - Charles II and The
Parliament were restored
• Charles II – sympathetic to
Catholicism?
• Distrust between the king
and the Parliament
(AGAIN!)
• James II – Catholic! – next
in line!
Brief Reign of James II
(r.1685-1688)
• James II – openly Catholic
• Ignores the Test Act
• 1688 – James’ son is
born (succession!)
• English MPs / Nobles
invite William of
Orange to invade
England (married to
James’ daughter Mary)
William and Mary
The Glorious Revolution
(1688-1689)
• James II flees to France
• The Revolution Settlement:
William and Mary – new
rulers of England by
accepting the English Bill of
Rights
• CONSTITUTIONAL
MONARCHY! (not by divine
right!!!)
• The Toleration Act (1689)
still excluded Catholics
The English Bill of Rights (1689)
• 1. That the pretended power of suspending laws, or the execution of
laws, by regal authority, without consent of parliament is illegal.
• 2. That the pretended power of dispensing with the laws, or the
execution of law by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and
exercised of late, is illegal.
• 3. That the commission for erecting the late court of commissioners for
ecclesiastical causes, and all other commissions and courts of like
nature, are illegal and pernicious.
• 4. That levying money for or to the use of the crown by pretense of
prerogative, without grant of parliament, for longer time or in other
manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal.
• 5. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all
commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal.
• 6. That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time
of peace, unless it be with consent of parliament, is against law.
The English Bill of Rights (cont.)
•
7. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defense suitable
to their conditions, and as allowed by law.
•
8. That election of members of parliament ought to be free.
•
9. That the freedom of speech, and debates or proceedings in parliament, ought not
to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of parliament.
•
10. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor
cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
•
11. That jurors ought to be duly impaneled and returned, and jurors which pass upon
men in trials for high treason ought to be freeholders.
•
12. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before
conviction are illegal and void.
•
13. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening, and
preserving of the laws, parliament ought to be held frequently.
The
English
Civil War:
In
Summary
Responses to the English Civil War
and the Glorious Revolution
• Thomas Hobbes
“Leviathan”
vs.
John Locke
“Two Treatises
of Government”