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Civil War, English

Conflict between King Charles I and the Royalists (also called Cavaliers) on one side and the Parliamentarians (also called Roundheads) on the other. Their differences centred initially on the king's unconstitutional acts, but later became a struggle over the relative powers of crown and Parliament. Hostilities began in 1642 and a series of Royalist defeats (at Marston Moor in 1644, and then at Naseby in 1645) culminated in Charles's capture in 1647, and execution in 1649. The war continued until the final defeat of Royalist forces at Worcester in 1651. Oliver Cromwell then became Protector (ruler) from 1653 until his death in 1658.

Causes

Charles I became the king of Great Britain and Ireland in 1625, and quickly became involved in a number of disputes with Parliament. These led to the latter's dissolution in 1629, after which Charles ruled absolutely for 11 years, the Eleven Years' Tyranny. By 1639, people had many reasons to be angry with Charles: his belief in the divine right of kings; his spending - Charles was an art collector, and lavished money on his court and his favourites; his creation of monopolies as a form of patronage; his levies of ship money for the support of the navy; and his use of the Star Chamber court to suppress the Puritans and make judgements in his favour. His officials and associates were also unpopular. Strafford, Charles's advisor and lord deputy in Ireland, was using the army to enforce royal rule ruthlessly in Ireland (see Ireland: history 1603-1782, Protestant settlement and the rule of Strafford). The Puritans felt threatened by Charles's deputy, Archbishop William Laud, who had brought Arminianism into the Church of England, new ideas that emphasized links with the pre-Reformation church. Charles's Catholic wife Henrietta Maria was also disliked, as she encouraged him to aid Catholics and make himself an absolute ruler.

In 1639, however, war was declared with Scotland, the first of the Bishops' Wars over Charles's attempts to impose royal control over the church in Scotland. In 1640, Charles called the Short Parliament in order to raise funds. His request for war taxes was refused, and the Parliament was quickly dissolved, but, after defeat in Scotland in the second Bishops' War (1640), Charles called the Long Parliament of 1640. The members of Parliament (MPs) were determined (in the words of the leader John Pym) ‘to make their country happy by removing all grievances’. The Long Parliament imprisoned Laud, declared extra-parliamentary taxation illegal, and voted that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own assent. In November 1641 Parliament presented the Grand Remonstrance - a list of complaints. In January 1642 Charles tried to arrest the five parliamentary leaders who, he said, had ‘traitorously tried to take away the King's royal power’. When this failed, the king went north to Nottingham, where he declared war against Parliament on 22 August 1642.

Commonwealth and Protectorate England became a republic and formally declared to be a Commonwealth. The war continued with Cromwell's Irish campaign (see also Ireland: history 1603 to 1782, Cromwell in Ireland) and campaigns in Scotland (see Scotland: history 1603 to 1746, the Commonwealth period). It only ended when a revived Royalist army under Charles II was defeated at the Battle of Worcester in September 1651. Charles II then fled abroad.

At first England was still ruled by the Rump of the Long Parliament, but in 1653 Cromwell dismissed the Long Parliament. The time that followed was a period of experiment in government. Cromwell tried a ‘Parliament of the Saints’, the Barebones Parliament, in July-December 1653. Later in December 1653, Cromwell accepted the office of Lord Protector, beginning the period known as the Protectorate (1653-59), but he still could not form a stable government. Other groups such as the Levellers and the Diggers demanded even more radical forms of government. Cromwell dissolved the Parliament of 1654-55 and for some time ruled the country as a military dictator, after which his last Parliament, in 1656, offered him the throne. Cromwell declined, however, thinking that this would be opposed by the army. Two years after Cromwell's death an amnesty was declared for Charles II, and his proclamation on 8 May 1660 marked the Restoration of the monarchy.

Blake, Robert commonwealth Dalyell, Thomas Fairfax, Thomas Ironsides

Juxon, William Laud, William Levellers New Model Army Royalist