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Timeline for causes of the English Civil War

The causes of the English Civil War covered a number of years. The reign of Charles I
had seen a marked deterioration in the relationship between Crown and Parliament. This
breakdown may well have occurred as early as 1625 when it became clear to Parliament
that Charles was going to allow George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, to maintain his
huge influence on the Crown despite the death of James I. Therefore, there were long
term causes of the war and short term causes that actually sparked off the conflict.

 1637: Charles attempted to get the Scots to pray in the same way that Laud had
ordered the English to do. This the Scots were not prepared to tolerate and riots
broke out in Edinburgh and spread across Scotland. 

 1638: Charles sent an army to Scotland to put down the riots. It failed to do this

and the English force was defeated by the Scottish one.

 1639: Charles called home from Ireland Strafford. Strafford had ruled Ireland with
force and he had built up a good army. Charles hoped that Strafford could do the
same for an English army.

 1640: In April, Charles called for a Parliament to grant the money needed to fight
a war in Scotland. Parliament refused to grant the money needed and cited Laud
and Strafford as men who were abusing the authority that had been given to
them. Charles dismissed Parliament after it had sat for just three weeks.
In August Scottish forces attacked England. Northumberland and Durham were
taken over and an English force was defeated. In November Charles was forced to
call Parliament again to acquire the money needed to pay the Scots to leave
England. Only Parliament had the financial means to deal with the situation and
both they and Charles knew this. Laud and Strafford were both sent to the Tower
of London.

 1641: In May Charles attempted to get Strafford released from the Tower but
failed. On May 12th Strafford was executed after he was tried for treason and
charged with planning to use his Irish army to defeat Parliament.
Between June and August Parliament started to dismantle the way that Charles
had ruled England during the ‘Eleven Years Tyranny’. Royal courts were ended –
the most important being the Court of Star Chamber. In November Ireland
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rebelled. The relationship between Charles and Parliament further worsened over
the clash they had over whether the Church of England should be the model that
Charles wanted or whether, as Parliament wished, it should move to a Puritan
model with the abolition of the bishops. In December it became clear that
Parliament and Charles had no common ground.

 1642: In January Charles attempted to arrest his five most prominent critics in the
House of Commons. They fled into London before Charles arrived at the House.
The City of London’s troops sided with Parliament and with this Charles had no
choice but to flee his capital. For the next eight months Charles attempted to get
support for his cause and any attempt to resolve the problem ended in failure.
In August Charles raised his standard at Nottingham and declared war on
Parliament.

Bibliography: https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/stuart-england/timeline-
for-causes-of-the-english-civil-war/

The English Civil War – Build up to war

The relationship between King Charles I and Parliament had become increasingly
strained.

Factions within Parliament had also opened up between the King’s supporters and
those who wanted to see greater reform.

In January 1642 King Charles entered the House of Commons with an armed unit of
soldiers.

He intended to arrest five Members of Parliament.

The MPs had been forewarned and were not there.

King Charles left London.

In March 1642 Parliament passed the Militia Ordinance which put the control of the local
militia (known as the Trained Bands) in the hands of Parliament.

King Charles headed north for York.

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In April 1642 King Charles was refused entry to the main northern arsenal in Hull by Sir
John Hotham.

In June 1642, Parliament began to muster troops under the authority of the Ordinance.

In response King Charles began to raise his own Royalist army.

He issued individual commissions to those gentry who were loyal to the Crown, to take
control of their local Trained Bands or raise their own soldiers.

Without a Parliament, King Charles I had to reinstate the outdated Commissions of

Array to try and raise troops.

The navy declared their support for Parliament under the command of the Earl of
Warwick.

In July 1642 Parliament voted to raise an army under the command of the Earl of
Essex.

Royalist and Parliamentarian forces seized military strongholds and raided stores for
arms and munitions.

The major cities and towns began to declare whether they were for the King or for
Parliament.

First English Civil War (1642 – 1646)

On 22 August 1642 King Charles I raised the Royal Standard at Nottingham. King
Charles had effectively declared war against Parliament.

On 23 September 1642 the first significant military action of the War took place.

The Battle of Powick Bridge near Worcester was essentially a cavalry skirmish.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine distinguished himself as a cavalry commander when he

routed the Parliamentarian cavalry.

The Battle of Edgehill took place on 23 October 1642. It was the first major battle of the
War.

The Earl of Essex had been ordered to prevent King Charles from marching on London.
Neither side gained an outright victory.

The Earl of Essex withdrew northwards to Warwick leaving King Charles with the
advantage as the road to London was clear.
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Parliamentarian representatives including Sir John Evelyn attempted to re-open peace

negotiations with King Charles at Reading, which Charles agreed to in principle.

On 13 November 1642 the Royalist army advanced on London. It was forced to

withdraw at Turnham Green by numerically superior Parliamentarian forces.

King Charles retreated back to Oxford, which became his headquarters.

In February 1643 peace negotiations were unsuccessful as King Charles rejected the
proposals put forward by Parliament in the Treaty of Oxford.

During the early part of 1643, the Royalists had made gains in Yorkshire at the Battle of
Adwalton Down and in the southwest.

In July Prince Rupert seized Bristol.

In September 1643 James Butler, Earl of Ormond negotiated a one year cease fire with
the Irish Confederates.

The purpose of this was to free up Royalist troops fighting in Ireland so that they could
be brought back to England to fight for King Charles against Parliament.

However by negotiating with the Irish Catholics, King Charles damaged his reputation
and lost favour with some of his supporters.

September also saw gains for the Parliamentarians when the Earl of Essex relieved the
siege of Gloucester.

The Earl of Essex went on to win the First Battle of Newbury as his army moved back to
London.

On 25 September the Solemn League and Covenant was signed.

This formed a military alliance between the English Parliamentarians and the Scottish
Covenanters.

The Covenanters would send an army to fight on the side of the Parliamentarians.

The Scottish army marched south and joined with the Parliamentarian forces besieging
York.

In July 1644 Prince Rupert raised the siege at York.

On 2 July he was heavily defeated at the Battle of Marston Moor by the combined
Scottish and Parliamentarian armies.
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Oliver Cromwell and his cavalry, the ‘Ironsides’, played a significant role in the battle,
demonstrating Cromwell’s abilities as a military commander.

When York surrendered two weeks later, the Royalists were all but defeated in the
north.

Things did not go so well for Parliament in Cornwall with the defeat of the Earl of Essex
at the Battle of Lostwithiel.

It was the defeat at the Second Battle of Newbury that led Oliver Cromwell amongst
others, to call for a change in the way the army was run.

In January 1645 peace negotiations opened at Uxbridge. King Charles refused to

accept the terms that were offered.

The House of Lords passed the New Model Army Ordinance in February.

This created a national standing army of professional soldiers. Importantly they were to
have no regional affiliations.

The militia had previously been organised at the local level and the Parliamentarian
armies recruited from these regional associations.

On occasion, this left army commanders with men who were reluctant to go on
campaign outside their own region.

In March the Self-Denying Ordinance was passed.

This Ordinance stated that Members of the House of Commons and the Lords could not
hold military office.

The officers in command of this new Army were to be chosen on merit and not on social
standing or wealth.

Oliver Cromwell was one of only a handful of men who by passing of an Ordinance,
served as a commander in the Army and as a Member of Parliament.

On 14 June 1645 the New Model Army under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax won
a decisive victory at the Battle of Naseby.

Oliver Cromwell and his cavalry once again played an important part in obtaining
victory.

The private correspondence of King Charles I was captured with the baggage train.
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The publication of these letters as The King’s Cabinet Opened showed everyone that
Charles was seeking support from Ireland and continental Europe.

They also revealed that he had never had any intention of accepting the terms of the
Treaty of Uxbridge.

These revelations damaged his reputation and lost him supporters.

Victory against Lord Goring’s Royalist army at the Battle of Langport in July 1645
effectively saw the end of the Royalists last field army.

Bristol fell to the Parliamentarians in September.

King Charles blamed his nephew Prince Rupert for surrendering too easily. Parliament
took control of the West.

In May 1646 the New Model Army laid siege to Oxford, the Royalist headquarters.

King Charles I surrendered to the Scottish Covenanters at Southwell, Nottinghamshire

on the 5th May.

The first Civil War had ended with a victory for Parliament.

Having won the war Parliament now tried to secure the peace.

They opened negotiations with King Charles trying to find a settlement that he would
accept.

Parliament was divided over what these terms should be.

Presbyterians and Independents were each trying to gain control of Parliament.

At issue was just how much influence the King should have in the running of
Government, and what form the established Church in England was to take.

In July 1646 Parliament presented King Charles with The Newcastle Propositions.

This consisted of nineteen propositions which would form the basis of a peace treaty.

The main points were that King Charles had to sign the Covenant.

Religion was to be reformed according to the Covenant and settled by Act of

Parliament, thereby imposing this new Presbyterian form of worship on everyone.

Strict laws against Catholics and Catholicism were to be enforced.

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Parliament was to retain control of the military for the next twenty years and leading
officials were to be nominated and appointed by Parliament.

King Charles delayed giving an answer.

He did not agree with the Propositions but he was still hoping for aid from abroad, or for
a breakdown in relations between Parliament and the Scottish Covenanters.

In January 1647 the Scottish Covenanters handed King Charles I over to Parliament in
exchange for payment of reparations.

The New Model Army began to make increasingly politically demands.

Marching on London they declared that they were trying to purge corruption from
Parliament.

They also sought religious tolerance and the restoration of the Anglican Church.

They independently offered their own peace settlement to the King, the Heads of
Proposals.

The terms of these Proposals were more generous than those offered by Parliament
and called for greater religious tolerance.

At the end of October the Putney debates began.

These were a series of debates involving different factions within the Army and the
Levellers.

They were trying to work out what form the new constitution of England should take.

In November King Charles I escaped from Hampton Court.

He went to the Isle of Wight, where he was imprisoned in Carisbrooke castle.

Parliament continued to try and negotiate a peace settlement with King Charles, offering
revised editions of the Newcastle Propositions.

In December 1647 Parliament offered Charles the Four Bills, which were based upon
the Propositions.

Charles refused to accept them.

On 26 December King Charles I signed a secret treaty, known as the Engagement, with
a faction of the Scottish Covenanters.
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Charles agreed to establish Presbyterianism in England in exchange for a Scottish army

to help put him back on the throne.

With this action King Charles had re-started the war.

Second English Civil War (1648)

There were uncoordinated Royalist uprisings throughout England and Wales.

In May the Royalist army in South Wales was defeated at the Battle of St Fagans.

In July rebel forces surrendered to Lieutenant-General Oliver Cromwell at the siege of

Pembroke.

Colonel John Poyer was later executed for his part in the rebellion.

The Scottish Engager army commanded by the Duke of Hamilton crossed the border
into England in July 1648.

On 17 August, Oliver Cromwell with his first full command of the Army defeated
Hamilton’s Scottish forces at the Battle of Preston.

Parliament had won the second Civil War.

On the 28 August Colchester finally surrendered to Sir Thomas Fairfax, having been
besieged since June.

Two of the Royalist commanders were executed by firing squad.

The senior Army leaders thought that Charles could not be trusted to negotiate and
should be put on trial for his actions.

In December 1648, the Army surrounded the House of Commons and only allowed
those MPs who supported putting Charles on trial to enter.

This became known as ‘Pride’s Purge’ after the commanding officer Colonel Thomas
Pride.

The remaining MPs made up what was known as the Rump Parliament.

They voted to put the King on trial and in January 1649 formed a High Court of Justice.

On 27 January King Charles I was sentenced to death. He was executed in Whitehall,

London on 30 January 1649.
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Third Civil War (1650 – 1651)

On 1 May 1650 Charles Prince of Wales, son of King Charles I, signed the Treaty of
Breda.

This was an agreement with the Scottish Presbyterians in which he promised to sign the
Covenant, in return for their help to put him on the throne.

Charles had already been proclaimed as King of Scotland in February 1649. In June
1650 Charles II landed in Scotland and signed the Covenant.

In May 1650 Oliver Cromwell returned after a successful campaign against an alliance
of English Royalists and Irish Confederates in Ireland.

The Council of State in England sent an army under the command of Cromwell, to
invade Scotland.

On 3 September 1650 Cromwell defeated the Scottish at the Battle of Dunbar. In

December he captured Edinburgh.

In January 1651 Charles II was crowned king at Scone. In August 1651 Charles II and
his Scottish Covenanter army crossed the border into England.

They were defeated by Oliver Cromwell and his army at the Battle of Worcester on 3
September 1651. Charles II escaped and fled to France ending the Civil Wars.

Causes of de Civil War

When looking at the causes of the English Civil Wars it’s important to remember that the
Civil War did not start as a revolution. Those involved did not set out to remove the
Monarchy and replace it with a Republic.

Conflicting attitudes towards Royal authority and religion brought about a series of
events which escalated into armed conflict.

Charles I believed he ruled with the Divine Right of Kings.

This meant he thought he was King by the will of God and therefore his decisions could
not be challenged or questioned.
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This ideology was opposed by those who believed there should be a limit to Royal
authority; that the people and their representatives, that is Parliament should have more
say in how the nation was governed.

Tied up with this were arguments over the Church and religion.

There were deep divisions over what religious practices, forms of worship and
organisational structure the Church should have.

Religion
Religion was a major cause of the English Civil War.

It was part of a Europe wide conflict between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

At the start of his reign (1625) King Charles I had married the Roman Catholic Henrietta
Maria of France.

Included in her marriage treaty were provisions that she be allowed to practice her
religion freely at Court.

It was also made a condition of the treaty that King Charles I set about lifting restrictions
for recusants (that is Catholics who refused to attend Anglican Church services).

The marriage was not a popular one. At this time Roman Catholics were distrusted and
feared.

The reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary as she came to be known) had
seen the persecution of Protestants.

Within living memory there had been:

 the attempted invasion of England by Roman Catholic Phillip II of Spain in 1588

(The Spanish Armada);
 the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a Catholic plot to blow up James I in the Houses
of Parliament; and
 the on-going Thirty Years War, ultimately a religious conflict which saw Roman
Catholic nations trying to wipe out Protestantism in Europe.

King Charles I was deeply religious.

He believed that he ruled with the Divine Right of Kings.

He preferred a High Anglican form of worship, with ceremonies, rituals and lavish
ornamentation.
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Charles thought the hierarchy of bishops and priests to be important.

This caused alarm for some Protestants as it appeared that Charles was leaning
towards Catholicism.

The Puritans, who were extreme Protestants, considered all of this to be forms of
‘Popery’.

They wanted a purer form of worship without rituals and without religious icons and
images.

Puritans believed that they had a personal relationship with God and did not need
bishops.

In 1633 William Laud was appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury by King Charles I.

William Laud was a Protestant but thought the Puritans too extreme.

Like King Charles I, Laud also favoured a High Anglican form of worship.

William Laud wanted to impose uniformity of worship based on The Book of Common
Prayer. Bishops were considered important to the running of the Church.

Laud also wanted to bring back some of the ceremonies and rituals.

Decorative features such as statues and stained-glass windows were reintroduced.

Priests were to wear vestments as a sign of their elevated status as members of the
clergy.

William Laud saw this as the ‘beauty of holiness’. Puritans saw this as an attempt to
make the Church more Roman Catholic.

There was much opposition to this religious change. William Laud saw Puritans as a
threat to the Church and pursued his critics in the courts.

In 1637 William Prynne, John Bastwick and Henry Burton were convicted in the Star
Chamber of seditious libel for criticising Laud’s policies in a pamphlet.

They had their cheeks branded and their ears cropped.

In 1637 King Charles I and Archbishop Laud imposed a new Prayer Book on the people
of Scotland. It was a revised edition of the English Prayer Book.

When it was introduced riots broke out in Edinburgh. The Scottish Presbyterians
thought that the new Prayer Book had too many similarities to Catholicism.
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They saw it as an attack on the true Protestant religion and on their freedom to choose
how they worshipped.

Although Scotland had Charles I as its King, it was still a separate kingdom from
England. Scotland had its own government, laws and established church – The Kirk.

Charles’ response was to insist on the full implementation of the new Prayer Book and
punishment for those who refused. He considered their refusal to be an attack on his
Royal authority.

In 1638 the Scottish people signed a Covenant in which they promised before God to
defend and preserve the true religion and pledged loyalty to the King.

In 1639 King Charles sent an army to try and enforce the new Prayer Book in Scotland.

King Charles already distrusted by some as having leanings towards Catholicism was
now declaring war on his loyal, Protestant subjects.

The English army was easily defeated in what was later known as the First Bishops’
War.

In 1640 King Charles was defeated in the Second Bishops’ War.

He was forced to sign the Treaty of Ripon in October 1640, which stipulated that the
Covenanter (Scottish) troops were to be paid £850 a day in maintenance while they still
occupied northern England.

Money
A key factor which led to the outbreak of the Civil War was King Charles and his lack of
money.

Charles’ father King James I, had led a lavish, extravagant lifestyle, which had left the
Royal treasury depleted.

The cost of running the Royal household of Charles I was similarly expensive.

King Charles was a patron of the arts and spent vast sums of money on musicians to
entertain his Court and in buying works of art.

King Charles needed to call Parliament to ask for money.

In June 1625 Parliament had only granted the King tonnage and poundage (income
from customs duties) for a single year, rather than for life as was customary.
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This meant that Charles would be forced to call Parliament again to grant further taxes.

Parliament refused to grant King Charles enough money to finance military campaigns
against Spain and France.

Charles dismissed Parliament and sought to raise income through a Forced Loan. That
is money from taxes levied without the consent of Parliament.

Refusal to pay often resulted in imprisonment without trial. This caused much
discontent.

In 1628 a Commons’ Petition of Right was drawn up which stated that the king could not
levy taxes on his subjects without the assent of Parliament, nor arbitrarily imprison
them.

Although King Charles initially agreed to the Petition it was never properly enacted as a
statute.

In March 1629 Charles dismissed Parliament and began what he called his ‘Personal
Rule’ and what his opponents called the ‘Eleven Years’ Tyranny’.

As only Parliament could legally grant taxes King Charles had to find other non-
Parliamentary sources of revenue.

Charles exploited the Royal prerogative and imposed knighthood fees on landowners
worth £40 or more a year (distraint of knighthood).

Monopolies were sold to rich merchants, even though this was forbidden by
Parliamentary Statute.

Forest boundaries were reinstated to their ancient limits, so that forest fines could be
levied on those who now found themselves within the new boundaries.

In 1635 the King demanded ship money from all the counties of England and not just
those on the coast.

Wealthy land owner, John Hampden MP, was tried in court for non-payment of ship
money as he believed the King had no legal right to collect it.

King Charles made himself very unpopular amongst those people who were traditionally
royal supporters.

After his defeat in the First Bishops’ War, King Charles called Parliament in April 1640
to raise money for another campaign against Scotland.
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Not having been called for eleven years Parliament had a long list of grievances they
wished to present to the King.

Parliament refused to grant the money and Charles dissolved Parliament after less than
a month.

After defeat in the Second Bishops’ War, the terms of the Treaty of Ripon stated that
King Charles had to pay the Scottish Covenanters £850 a day while they occupied
northern England.

With huge debts the only option King Charles had was to call Parliament and ask for
money. This became known as the Long Parliament.

King Charles’ financial situation meant that only Parliament had the means to raise
enough money to pay the Covenanters and cover the costs of the unsuccessful
Bishops’ Wars.

Parliament finally had the opportunity to present their grievances and push through
reforms.

Parliament
Under the reign of James I there had been a breakdown in relations between
Parliament and the Monarchy.

Charles I had a similar negative view of any interference by Parliament in his rule.

It was within the King’s royal prerogative not to call Parliament but they did have their
purpose.

As well as being necessary for raising taxes and passing legislation they could also be
used as a source of advice and as a means of getting grievances heard.

The Short Parliament

King Charles called Parliament in April 1640 to raise money for the Second Bishops’
War. He needed Parliament to grant taxes to finance an army.

Parliament expressed concern over King Charles and his administration and wanted
their grievances heard.

The Puritan MP, John Pym was particularly outspoken in the call for reform.

King Charles dissolved Parliament after only three weeks when his request for money
was refused. [S. R .Gardiner, 1884]
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The Long Parliament

After the defeat in the Bishops’ Wars, King Charles was forced to call Parliament in
November 1640.

The Members of Parliament now had the opportunity to have their complaints about
Charles’ Personal Rule heard.

Their list of grievances concerned:

 Archbishop Laud and his religious reforms, which were considered to be too
Catholic;
 The use of the Royal prerogative to raise money, such as ship money;
 Dissolving Parliament rather than allow grievances to be heard and arresting
Members.

One of the main complaints of Parliament was that King Charles was unduly influenced
by some of his closest advisors.

Parliament blamed bad advice rather than the King himself for most of the problems.

In December 1640 Archbishop Laud was impeached for High Treason.

One of the charges brought against him was that he gave wicked and traitorous advice
to the King.

He was imprisoned in the Tower of London in March 1641. His trial finally began in
March 1644.

Unable to find any evidence that would prove him guilty of Treason Parliament passed a
Bill of Attainder against him.

William Laud was executed in January 1645.

In 1641, John Pym MP accused Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford of Treason and
had him impeached.

The Earl had been recalled as Lord Deputy of Ireland to become one of Charles’ chief
ministers during the Bishops’ Wars.

When the attempts to impeach him failed, the House of Commons passed a Bill of
Attainder.
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Charles I tried to rescue Strafford by sending troops to the Tower of London.

The attempt failed and resulted in demonstrations in London, with the protestors
demanding justice.

The House of Lords passed the Bill of Attainder and King Charles signed it.

Strafford was executed in May 1641.

Parliament wanted to see its place in the running of the country made more secure.

It also tried to remedy the religious and political problems that had arisen during the
king’s Personal Rule.

Some of these measures would also reduce the Kings’ ability to rule without Parliament.
King Charles agreed to some of these reforms.

Non-Parliamentary forms of taxation, such as ship money, were declared illegal. The
court of Star Chamber, which sat without a jury, was abolished.

King Charles also agreed that the English Parliament could not be dissolved without the
consent of Parliament itself.

Furthermore, Charles gave Royal Assent to the Triennial Act of 1641, requiring that
Parliament be called at least once every three years.

The Puritan members of Parliament were still calling for further reforms, particularly of
the Church and religious practices in England.

Divisions began to appear within Parliament and within the wider population.

The more moderate Protestants believed that religious reforms had gone far enough
and did not agree with the more radical changes the Puritans were demanding.

It was these who would emerge as supporters of the King.

Road to war Key

The Irish rebellion broke out in October 1641.

Irish Catholics had risen up and massacred Protestant settlers in Ulster.

King Charles needed to raise an army to put down the rebellion. This led to heated
debates as to whether the King or Parliament should control the army.
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John Pym MP argued vociferously that “…mischievous counsels…” would influence the
king.

Pym and his Puritan supporters were worried that the army might be turned against
Parliament after the Irish rebellion had been supressed.

The Irish rebellion had also re-ignited fears of a Roman Catholic plot against
Protestantism in the three kingdoms (England, Scotland and Ireland).

In November 1641 the Grand Remonstrance was presented to the House of Commons
by John Pym.

This document suggested that King Charles had been ill-advised by “…malignant
parties…” which included Bishops, “Jesuited Papists” and counsellors who were serving
the interests of foreign powers.

These persons “…for the advantage and increase of Popery…” had been attempting to
undermine the political and religious reforms approved by Parliament and create conflict
between the King and Parliament.

The Remonstrance listed 204 instances from the beginning of Charles’ reign onwards.

It demanded that the King remove these advisors and replace them with ones approved
of by Parliament.

It was passed by the House of Commons, but with only a very small majority of eleven.
The House of Lords and the King rejected it.

In December the House of Commons voted to have the Grand Remonstrance printed
and made available to ordinary members of the public.

King Charles in his response to the Remonstrance declared that there was no Church
which practiced “…the true religion with more purity of doctrine than the Church of
England…” Not everyone in Parliament or in England was a Puritan.

His stance on religion gained King Charles much support, especially in the House of
Lords.

On the 4th January 1642 King Charles entered the House of Commons with an armed
escort of soldiers to arrest five Members of Parliament on charges of High Treason.

These MPs were John Pym, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Sir Arthur Haselrig and
William Strode.

Having been forewarned, the MPs were not there.

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The Speaker of the House of Commons, William Lenthall, defended Parliamentary

privileges and refused to assist the King as to their whereabouts.

“May it please your majesty, I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place
but as this house is pleased to direct me whose servant I am here…”

This abuse of Parliamentary privileges by King Charles lost him political support.

Some of the MPs already believed that the King could not be trusted and were worried
that he might try and re-instate his ‘Personal Rule’.

Bringing armed soldiers into Parliament only made these fears worse.

When riots broke out in London King Charles fled to Hampton Court.

The rift between Parliament and the King had become more obvious and people were
being forced to take sides.

The London Trained Bands were brought out to guard Parliament with the consent of
both Houses.

Crowds gathered in London to have their opinions heard and voice their concerns.

In February King Charles sent Queen Henrietta Maria to the Netherlands for her own
safety and to raise foreign support for the war.

In March 1642 Parliament passed the Militia Ordinance which put the local militias
under the control of Parliament.

As it was passed as an Ordinance and not as an Act, Parliament decided that it did not
need Royal Assent. They claimed they were acting for the safety and defence of the
nation.

King Charles headed for York.

His supporters among the Lords and the gentry began to rally to him.

Some supported the Royalist cause as they disagreed with the Puritans demands for
radical reforms and did not like the influence they had in Parliament.

Others came out of loyalty to the Crown even if they did not necessarily agree with the
King’s actions.

In June 1642 Parliament presented the Nineteen Propositions to King Charles at York in
an attempt to prevent the “…imminent dangers and calamities…”.
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It proposed that:

 Parliament would control all military resources.

 Parliament would approve all ministers and officials chosen by the King.
 Parliament would decide how the Church was to be reformed.
 Laws against Catholics were to be strictly enforced.
 Parliament would have a say in the education and marriage arrangements of the
King’s children.

King Charles rejected the propositions.

Parliament was mustering troops under the authority of the Ordinance.

King Charles reinstated the outdated Commissions of Array to raise men.

Individuals now had to choose whether to mobilise under the Commissions of Array or
the Militia Ordinance.

Royalist and Parliamentarian forces seized military strongholds and raided stores for
arms and munitions.

The nation was becoming increasingly polarised. It was more difficult to remain neutral.

On 12 July Parliament voted to raise an army under the command of the Earl of Essex,
for the “… preserving of the true religion, the laws, liberty and peace of the kingdom.”

On 22 August 1642 King Charles I raised his Royal standard at Nottingham. Civil War
had been openly declared.
Bibliography: https://www.britpolitics.co.uk/causes-of-the-civil-war/

Battles of the Civil War

Below you will find lots of information about three key battles in the English Civil War

 Battle of Edgehill, Warwickshire, 23 October 1642

 Battle of Marston Moor, Yorkshire, 2 July 1644
 Battle of Naseby, Northamptonshire, 14 June 1645

Battle of Edgehill – 23 October 1642

The Battle of Edgehill was the first major battle of the English Civil Wars.

The Earl of Essex was in command of the Parliamentarian forces and had been ordered
to leave Worcester and prevent King Charles from reaching London.
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King Charles and his Royalist army were marching to London from Shrewsbury.

On the night of 22 October, the Royalists discovered that the Parliamentarians were
only a few miles from where they were camped.

They decided to meet them in battle and the next day assembled their forces at
Edgehill. The two armies did not face each other until the middle of the afternoon.

Both armies had drawn up in standard battle formation. Basically, this consisted of
cavalry units and dragoons on the right and left flanks, infantry units in the middle.

The Parliamentarians, however, also had two cavalry regiments at the rear.

The battle began with the exchange of largely ineffective artillery fire.

Eventually, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, who was in command of the Royalist army, led
his cavalry unit in a charge, shortly followed by the left-wing of Royalist cavalry.

The opposing Parliamentarian cavalry fled along with some of the infantry. The Royalist
cavalry units pursed the fleeing Parliamentarians towards Kineton.

Royalist infantry advanced without cavalry support and the infantry battle began.

The two remaining Parliamentarian cavalry regiments charged the Royalist infantry,
inflicting losses and causing panic.

Some of the Royalist cavalries returned to the field and began forming up. The battle
eventually came to a standstill as night fell.

Both armies spent a cold night in the field, still in position. Although they formed up
again the next day, neither side wanted a battle.

The Earl of Essex withdrew northwards, back to Warwick. King Charles was able to
march south.

Although both sides claimed victory the Battle of Edgehill is generally considered to be a
draw.

However, with the withdrawal of Essex, the road to London was clear. King Charles had
the advantage.

Although the Royalists took Banbury and then Oxford the King’s army did not arrive in
London until 13 November.

Here they were forced to retreat in the face of a numerically superior Parliamentarian
force at Turnham Green.
 21

The Royalists had failed to capitalise on their advantage and lost the chance to bring a
swift end to the war.

Battle of Marston Moor – 02 July 1644

The Battle of Marston Moor was the largest battle of the English Civil Wars.

In 1644 York was under siege from Parliamentarian and Scottish forces. King Charles
commanded that Prince Rupert and his army relieve York.

However, the letter from Charles seemed to suggest to Prince Rupert that he should
also “…beat the rebels’ army of both kingdoms which were before it…”

On 02 July 1644 Prince Rupert’s Royalist army and men from the York garrison
assembled for battle on Marston Moor.

They opposed the numerically superior forces of the Scottish and Parliamentarian
armies.

At around 7.30pm, just when the Royalists thought it had got too late in the day for
battle, the Parliamentarian infantry advanced in the rain.

At first the Royalist army had the upper hand. Cavalry charges inflicted heavy losses.

Many of the Scottish and Parliamentarian troops fled. Discipline was lost.

Then Oliver Cromwell led his cavalry unit behind the Royalist line and attacked. This
changed the course of the battle.

The Royalist cavalry was defeated. Many of their infantry surrendered.

Casualties were high. The Whitecoats, the elite Royalist infantry made a last stand, but
the survivors were eventually forced to surrender.

The Parliamentarians had won the Battle of Marston Moor. York surrendered two weeks
later.

The North was now effectively under the control of the Parliamentarian and Scottish
forces. Their decisive victory had almost wiped out the Royalist northern field army.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine had lost his reputation as an invincible opponent. Oliver
Cromwell was seen as an effective commander.
 22

His strong leadership and the discipline of his men had played a crucial role in winning
the battle.

Battle of Naseby – 14 June 1645

The Battle of Naseby was the decisive battle of the first English Civil War.

Sir Thomas Fairfax, commander of the Parliamentarian New Model Army had been
ordered to break off his siege of Oxford.

The Royalist army of King Charles had taken the Parliamentarian garrison at Leicester.
The New Model Army marched north from Oxford with orders to attack the Royalists.

King Charles marched south to aid Oxford, his winter headquarters. At Daventry, King
Charles discovered that Fairfax and the New Model Army were closing on his army.

Instead of retreating, King Charles chose to stay and fight.

The Parliamentary forces had taken up position on a ridge, just outside Naseby.

Joshua Sprigge, chaplain to Sir Thomas Fairfax, described in his Anglia Rediviva [1647]
how some of Fairfax’s men were arranged on the reverse of the ridge “…so the Enemy
might not perceive in what form our battell was drawn…”.

The Royalists attacked first. The Parliamentarian infantry were forced back and some of
their cavalry fled.

Prince Rupert and his cavalry units left the field and headed for the Parliamentarian
baggage train at Naseby.

Oliver Cromwell, commander of the right flank of cavalry units successfully repelled a
Royalist cavalry charge and then sent units to attack behind their lines.

Parliamentarian forces re-grouped and lined up for another advance. The Royalist
infantry was defeated.

Some surrendered others fled. Prince Rupert returned to the battlefield but his men
refused to fight.

The New Model Army had won a decisive victory. On the 18th June, Fairfax retook
Leicester.

Naseby was the beginning of the end of the first English Civil War. King Charles had
lost his main Royal army.
 23

As well as the loss of his infantry, many horses, field arms, artillery pieces and
gunpowder barrels were also captured. Resources the King could not easily replace.

The royal baggage train had also been taken. This included the personal
correspondence of King Charles.

The publication of these as The King’s Cabinet Opened, gained support for Parliament
as they showed Charles was seeking Catholic support.

The success of the New Model Army demonstrated the benefits of having a national
standing army, rather than one with regional allegiances.

King Charles II, after the restoration, created a standing army which was the forerunner
of the modern British army.
 24

The Causes of the English Civil War

 Charles I
The English Civil War has many causes but the personality of Charles I must be counted
as one of the major reasons. Few people could have predicted that the civil war, that
started in 1642, would have ended with the public execution of  Charles. His most
famous opponent in this war was Oliver Cromwell  – one of the men who signed the
death warrant of Charles.
No king had ever been executed in England and the execution of Charles was not
greeted with joy. How did the English Civil War break out?
As with many wars, there are long and short term causes.
 Long term causes
The status of the monarchy had started to decline under the reign of James I. He was
known as the “wisest fool in Christendom”. James was a firm believer in the “divine right
of kings”. This was a belief that God had made someone a king and as God could not be
wrong, neither could anyone appointed by him to rule a nation. James expected
Parliament to do as he wanted; he did not expect it to argue with any of his decisions.
However, Parliament had one major advantage over James – they had money and he
was continually short of it. Parliament and James clashed over custom duties. This was
one source of James income but Parliament told him that he could not collect it without
their permission. In 1611, James suspended Parliament and it did not meet for another
10 years. James used his friends to run the country and they were rewarded with titles.
This caused great offence to those Members of Parliament who believed that they had
the right to run the country.
In 1621, James re-called Parliament to discuss the future marriage of his son, Charles, to
a Spanish princess. Parliament was outraged. If such a marriage occurred, would the
children from it be brought up as Catholics? Spain was still not considered a friendly
nation to England and many still remembered 1588 and the Spanish Armada. The
marriage never took place but the damaged relationship between king and Parliament
was never mended by the time James died in 1625. 

 Short term causes:

Charles had a very different personality compared to James. Charles was arrogant,
conceited and a strong believer in the divine rights of kings. He had witnessed the
damaged relationship between his father and Parliament, and considered that Parliament
 25

was entirely at fault. He found it difficult to believe that a king could be wrong. His
conceit and arrogance were eventually to lead to his execution.
From 1625 to 1629, Charles argued with parliament over most issues, but money and
religion were the most common causes of arguments. 
In 1629, Charles copied his father. He refused to let Parliament meet. Members of
Parliament arrived at Westminster to find that the doors had been locked with large
chains and padlocks. They were locked out for eleven years – a period they called the
Eleven Years Tyranny.
Charles ruled by using the Court of Star Chamber. To raise money for the king, the Court
heavily fined those brought before it. Rich men were persuaded to buy titles. If they
refused to do so, they were fined the same sum of money it would have cost for a title
anyway! 
In 1635 Charles ordered that everyone in the country should pay Ship Money. This was
historically a tax paid by coastal towns and villages to pay for the upkeep of the navy.
The logic was that coastal areas most benefited from the navy’s protection. Charles
decided that everyone in the kingdom benefited from the navy’s protection and that
everyone should pay. 
In one sense, Charles was correct, but such was the relationship between him and the
powerful men of the kingdom, that this issue caused a huge argument between both
sides. One of the more powerful men in the nation was John Hampden. He had been a
Member of Parliament. He refused to pay the new tax as Parliament had not agreed to
it. At this time Parliament was also not sitting as Charles had locked the MP’s out.
Hampden was put on trial and found guilty. However, he had become a hero for
standing up to the king. There is no record of any Ship Money being extensively
collected in the areas Charles had wanted it extended to.
Charles also clashed with the Scots. He ordered that they should use a new prayer book
for their church services. This angered the Scots so much that they invaded England in
1639. As Charles was short of money to fight the Scots, he had to recall Parliament in
1640 as only they had the necessary money needed to fight a war and the required
authority to collect extra money.
In return for the money and as a display of their power, Parliament called for the
execution of  “Black Tom Tyrant” – the Earl of Strafford, one of the top advisors of
Charles. After a trial, Strafford was executed in 1641. Parliament also demanded that
Charles get rid of the Court of Star Chamber.
 26

By 1642, relations between Parliament and Charles had become very bad. Charles had to
do as Parliament wished as they had the ability to raise the money that Charles needed.
However, as a firm believer in the “divine right of kings”, such a relationship was
unacceptable to Charles.
In 1642, he went to Parliament with 300 soldiers to arrest his five biggest critics.
Someone close to the king had already tipped off Parliament that these men were about
to be arrested and they had already fled to the safety of the city of London where they
could easily hide from the king. However, Charles had shown his true side. Members of
Parliament represented the people. Here was Charles attempting to arrest five Members
of Parliament simply because they dared to criticise him. If Charles was prepared to
arrest five Members of Parliament, how many others were not safe? Even Charles
realised that things had broken down between him and Parliament. Only six days after
trying to arrest the five Members of Parliament, Charles left London to head for Oxford
to raise an army to fight Parliament for control of England. A civil war could not be
avoided.