Heads of Proposals

In England, constitutional demands drawn up by senior parliamentarian officers July 1647 as a basis for settlement with Charles I at the end of the Civil War. The proposals which were drafted by Henry Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law, included demands for electoral reform, regular biennial parliaments, a mild form of episcopacy and some religious toleration, parliamentary control of the armed forces, and the right to nominate ministers for a ten-year period. Although the demands were relatively modest, Charles refused to accept the proposals and fled to the Isle of Wight from where he concluded an alternative Engagement with the Scots