The road to the first Civil War

The road to Civil war

Second session of the Long Parliament

May 1641: The Root and Branch bill

June 1641: the Ten Propositions

October 1641: the Irish Rebellion

November 1641: The Grand Remonstrance

January 1642: Attempted armed coup

May 1641: The Root and Branch Bill

To abolish episcopacy from the roots and in all its branches- it was a piece of legislation that aimed to reform the Church of England by abolishing bishops and the episcopal system of governance.

- A root and branch pétition had been signed by 15,000 Londoners, and presented to Parliament by a crowd of 1500.

-The Root and Branch Bill was introduced by Oliver Cromwell and Henry Vane the Younger

-The Bill was defeated in August 1641- Parliament did however decide to exclude the bishops from the House of Lords in December 1641 in the Bishops Exclusion Act (took effect in February 1642).

June 1641: The Ten Propositions

This was accepted by both Lords and Commons on 24th June 1641, defined Parliament's negotiating position in any discussion on a settlement.

The propositions were to:

-Control Charles' wife, Henrietta Maria and her 'Catholic' connections

-Parliament should choose the King's counsellors

-It demanded that Parliament have control over the religious education of any royal children.

October 1641: The Irish Rebellion

-Parliament was conflicted- and further divided- on how to respond. As fervent anti-Catholics, they wished to see the Confederates rising put down.

-The rebellion further radicalised the Puritan faction in Parliament because for them this was evidence of a ´popish plot'.

The significance of John Pym

-The MP John Pym was a man driven by religious fanaticism: he was a resolute, serious Puritan.

-Pym had initiated the legal attacks on Strafford and Laud.

-Pym- and others, including Cromwell- wanted a King that was just a puppet figurehead with no real power.

-Pym wanted Parliament to have the power with a limited monarchy.

Pym the radical

-Pym's religious radicalism (especially the demand for the abolition of bishops) was a sign that he was going way beyond simply dismantling the Personal Rule.

-Moderate Parliamentarians were concerned to preserve the existing liturgy as an expression of the traditional social order against attack from lower-class religious radicals.

-Pym played a part in encouraging demonstrations at Westminster against bishops and the prayer book in the autumn of 1641.

November 1641: The Grand Remonstrance

This was a long, wide-ranging document that listed all the grievances against the King's actions in government (Church and State) since the beginning of his reign.

Pym planned to use this as part of his campaign to transfer control of the armed forces to Parliament by undermining confidence in the King and his ministers and by demonstrating the integrity of Parliament.

January 1642: Attempted armed coup

Rumours that members of the Long Parliament were planning to impeach the Queen helped to promote Charles to make his disastrous attempt to arrest the Five Members in January 1642.

This failed as Charles was forced to flee from the capital. Both the King with his supporters and Members who remained in Parliament at Westminster raised armed forces, not with the intention of fighting, but each with the object of deterring the other from resorting to violence.