Early Modern Europe: English Civil Wars

English Civil War Fact

First Civil War Dates: 1642 – 1646

Second Civil War Dates: February – August 1648

Third Civil War Dates: 1649 – 1651 (after the regicide; also called Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland)

Causes:

• Primarily about the role of the monarch vs. the role of parliament

• Another cause: the religious identity of the nation, the leadership of the Church of England

Outcomes:

• Execution of King Charles I on January 30, 1649

• Third Civil War leads to confiscation of most property belonging to Catholics in Ireland

Important parties:

• Parliamentarian faction

• Royalist faction

• Radical factions

historians on this period

English Civil War

• Folds the two periods of the war into one conflict

English Civil Wars

• Emphasizes distinctions between first and second war

English Revolution

• Views the conflict as a revolutionary change for England

  • Often used by Marxist academics and historians who emphasize the revolutionary movements of the period

Wars of the Three Kingdoms

• Broader series of conflicts from 1639 – 1653 fought in England, Scotland, and Ireland

• Argues the “civil wars” framework is too Anglocentric

Wars of the Five Kingdoms

• Emphasizes the roles of European proxies (France & Spain) in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms

  • Used by historians who want to locate the conflict within the European context

They ways in which we refer to historical events sometimes reveals what we think is essential about them. → What we think of as essential often relates to our own political commitments and the things we value within and without history.

broader causes

James I & VI and Charles I believed in the Divine Right of Kings

Parliament summoned only when king wanted to consult

• By tradition, Parliament decided if the king could levy any additional taxes and revenues

• Parliament: House of Commons & House of Lords (bicameral)

  • House of Commons: elected by landholding men

    • elected every time king calls parliament

  • House of Lords: hereditary peers

Repeated conflicts between Charles I and Parliament = “Personal Rule” (1629 – 1640)

• does not call parliament

• Struggles to raise money without Parliament & exploits loopholes to do so → pisses off the gentry

• Religious reforms: appoints Archbishop Laud in 1633 → institutes a lot of ceremony into the Church of England → enrages more Calvinist-leaning Anglicans (growth of Puritanism)

  • accused of turning anglican church into Catholicism

  • Attempts to impose a new Book of Common Prayer on the Church of Scotland  revolt in Scotland

run-up to the war

1640: Insolvency + revolt in Scotland force Charles I to recall Parliament

• Parliament opposes an invasion of Scotland & has other grievances

• Charles I dismisses Parliament after 3 weeks: “Short Parliament”

• November 1640: Charles I had to call another Parliament → the “Long Parliament” sat for years

  • Passes several reforms limiting Charles I’s ability to interfere with Parliament & pass taxes without Parliament’s consent

  • 4 January 1642: Charles I & 400 soldiers storm Parliament to arrest 5 members

Outside of Parliament

• 1641: Catholics in Ireland rise up against English Protestants;

  rumours that the king supports them

• Local grievances against the king intensify

• 1642: the censorship office collapses → ideas can be freely shared

angry about unemployment, problems with landscape

factions in the war

Royalists (Cavaliers)

• Supported the king

• Political & cultural attitude of lavishness, romanticism, and tradition

Parliamentarians (Roundheads)

• Supported Parliament as the top authority

• Some supported constitutional monarchy and others republicanism

• Political & cultural attitude of austerity, associated with Calvinism & Puritanism

Presbyterians (Scottish Calvinists)

• Supported Parliament in the First Civil War, but changed sides in 1646

• Primary aim: ensuring an independent Presbyterian Church

Radical Factions

• Levellers: “natural law,” expanding the vote, anti-corruption

• Diggers: farming the common land, equality of sexes, small agrarian communities, religious non-conformists

• Fifth Monarchists: radical Protestants pursuing the Apocalypse

• And many more...

New Model Army

Parliamentarian army, formed 1645

Pre-1645 armies: local militias recruited for national service

• Parliamentarian side lost several battles early on in the war

Concerns military leaders in Parliament might be tempted to extend the conflict → separate military command

Professionalized army with regular pay and standardized equipment and training

• Daily rations in theory, practice = not so much

New Model Army members were supposed to be religious zealots as well → this made the NMA a hotbed for radicalism → issues for command

Oliver Cromwell commanded a cavalry force, “the Ironsides”

Royalist army was smaller but initially better-provisioned and better-trained

• Cavalier veterans in leadership (personal glory)

• takes people who are not trained, provides them with training, equipment, and pay (fight as a group)

very religious, lots of passion

Summary of First 2 Wars

First Civil War

• London was Parliamentarian so the Royalist HQ was in Oxford

  • England geographically divided in terms of support: North & West favour the king, as do Catholics in Ireland; South & East favour Parliament, as do Scottish Presbyterians (initially)

• New Model Army and Scottish invasion turn the tide of the war towards Parliament

• 1646: Charles I surrenders to the Scottish army

Inter-war period

• 1647: the NMA seize the king

  • the power of the Army starts to make all the other factions (including Parliament) concerned

• Presbyterian Pivot: Presbyterians did not oppose the king, just his policies

  • pivoted to new cause

  • cared about enforcing prayer book they didn’t want

Second Civil War

• May 1648: Scotland invades England on behalf of Charles I & Royalists rise up

  • Royalists quickly realize they cannot win and turn to negotiations

• December 1648: Parliament votes to continue negotiating a peace but Cromwell & the NMA opposed talks with “the tyrant” and purged Parliament of members who opposed the NMA → Forms the “Rump Parliament”

regicide

After Cromwell’s coup, the most radical faction gains control of the king

Rump Commons passed a bill convening the trial of Charles I on grounds of treason and other high crimes

• creates legend of himself, not afraid (he is going to heaven)

Charles I argues no earthly court can have authority over a king

• The court argues that “king” is an office that is inhabited by a person

Court condemns king to death on January 26, 1649

• 59 commissioners sign the writ of execution

Charles I is beheaded January 30, 1649

• Tries to use the pageantry to solidify his legacy on behalf of his surviving children (including heir, Charles II)

interregnum facts

Dates: 1649 – 1660

• Referred to as the“Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland”

  • It’s not a series of kingdoms anymore!

Controlled by Council of State & Rump Parliament from 1649 – 1653

Oliver Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 – 1658

republican governance

1649 – 1653: Council of State holds executive power, Rump Parliament holds legislative power

• Council of State: mostly Grandees (senior officers) of the NMA

  • Conflict b/w Council of State & Parliament continues

1653: Cromwell and the Grandees dismiss the Rump Parliament & replace it with a national assembly (also called Barebone’s Parliament after the London representative Praise-God Barebone)

• Barebone’s parliament dissolved itself on 12 December 1653 because of gridlock

  • also because of new radical political faction gaining power

December 1653: Cromwell is made Lord Protector by the Instrument of Government and granted executive power over the Commonwealth

• New parliamentary arrangement: one chamber, re-drawn districts favouring gentry, parliaments should sit every 3 years for at least 5 months

  • no more house of lords

  • practice: wealthy land owners get in

1655: Cromwell dismisses the Protectorate Parliament and the Commonwealth is ruled by military men until 1658

• This enrages Parliamentarians

• new person in charge of each region

1656: Cromwell calls the Second Protectorate Parliament

oliver cromwell

lord protector

Dates: 1599 – 1658

Born & raised in Huntingdon (Cambridgeshire)

• Distantly related to Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s advisor

  • The family wealth came from the dissolution of the monasteries

• “I was by birth a gentleman, living neither in considerable height, nor yet in obscurity.“

• no title, status: only money/land

Married Elizabeth in 1620, 9 children of whom 8 survived infancy and 5 outlived their father

crisis of faith: zealots religious position, protestant radical

Elected MP for Huntingdon in 1628, a period of personal crisis and growing zealotry

• Elected again in 1640 when the Long Parliament is called & is more radical

Signs king’s death warrant

Campaigning in Scotland and Ireland 1649 – 1651

• Returns to gridlocked government  begins to contemplate taking power

Installation as Lord Protector in December 1653: plain dress, no crown, “warts and all”

• not interested in personal vanity: PR, lord protector who is so famously austere (sets tone)

• People begin referring to him as “Your Highness” immediately

Cromwell as pragmatist or zealot: early in career he is zealously religious, military coup (doesn’t want parliament to negotiate with king who is tyrrant)

• when is in power: more moderate, religiously tolerente, deals that are pragmatic

• unsure

cromwell in ireland

1649: Cromwell led a parliamentary invasion of Ireland to prevent Irish Catholics from allying with the Royalists and making problems for the new government

Cromwell personally despised Irish people for their Catholicism

• Significant English hostility towards the Irish after the 1641 rebellion

  • Won over English Royalist troops to fight with the English faction

1650: Cromwell is recalled to England to deal with the Scots who have just proclaimed Charles II King of Scotland

• Leaves Edmund Ludlow and Henry Ireton (his son-in-law) in charge

Ireton’s attempts to crush Irish guerillas systematically removing and denying food to regions harbouring them → deliberate famine across Ireland

• Also executed any Irish leaders trying to defend their cities during English sieges

Beginning 1652: Commonwealth stripped land from rebels and passed it to planters, many Irish people were forced to move west of the River Shannon on pain of death, clergy banned, etc.

scotland without its king

Charles I was king of England and Scotland

• Scotland did not agree to his execution

  • England executed Scotland’s king

1650: Scottish parliament proclaims Charles II king → this means war

• Victory for England at Dunbar

1651: Charles II and Scottish forces invade England

• They are repelled and English forces under George Monck sack Dundee

• Charles II escapes the Battle of Worcester and flees to France

From 1651, Scotland is ruled from England

england without a king

Common wealth Parliament reforms include

• Banning Christmas and Easter celebrations (too much revelry)

• Banning the theatre and gambling

Cromwell sees his duty as religious and moral reform as well as economic and jurisprudential policy

• Domestic policy: tolerationist, moralizing, austere

• Foreign policy: re-establish England as a dominant force in Europe, very anti-Spanish

  • Cromwell becomes seen as the Protector of all Protestants

No religious unity in the British Isles

• Cromwell is in favour of re-admitting Jews to England but only achieves half-measures in 1654

Censorship does not return in the same measure → free ideas continue to circulate

• London as a centre of European leaning on par with Paris (if not exceeding it)

colonial endeavours

1655: Western Design → England wants to take Caribbean territory from Spain

• Failed attack on Hispaniola

• Captured Jamaica, which was weakly defended

Plantations in Virginia, the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Providence

• Many Cavaliers emigrated to Virginia

• Massachusetts Bay was extremely devout in its Puritanism

• Providence was founded by a religious dissenter

Succession Crisis 1658-1659

Cromwell dies 3 September 1658 of natural causes

His son, Richard, inherits the Protectorate and a moderate parliament

• NMA Radicals force the dissolution of parliament and Richard’s abdication → military rule is back!

Spring 1659: George Monck, Oliver Cromwell’s old ally, marched on London and convenes the Convention Parliament → largely Royalist

• The Convention Parliament negotiates the return of Charles II to England

• gets thrown out of Massachusetts bay polity for rights for indigenous people

back to military rule

restoration timeline

April 1659: Convention Parliament convened

4 April 1660: Declaration of Breda

29 May 1660: The King Returns

29 August 1660: Act of Indemnity and Oblivion

1660: Charter of Royal African Society

1662: Royal Society Charter signed

1665: GreatPlague

1666: Great Fire of London

declaration of breda

Charles II promises that, if he is made King of England again, he will:

• Pardon the people who wronged his family

• NOT reassign or confiscate property

• Continue Cromwell’s religious toleration policies

• Pay the army what it was owed

This was drafted on George Monck’s recommendation

Signed in Breda, Dutch Republic as a show of good faith (calvanist state)

• Charles II had been living in the Spanish Netherlands but that’s not very PR-friendly for an English king

• travels to breda as pr move

return of the king

Charles returns to England in May 1660 and reaches London on his 30th birthday

April 1661: Official Coronation

1661: Cavalier Parliament convened → mostly Royalists and Anglicans

• The tide turned on Puritanism

Charles II as the “merry monarch”

• Return of the theatre, now with female actors!

• Lavish lifestyle, with at least 7 mistresses (and 12 illegitimate kids) but no heirs by his wife, Catherine of Braganza

  • wife would gamble his money

• Patron of science as well due to personal interest: Royal Society

  • most powerful scientific institutions

1665: Great Plague kills up to 7,000 per week in London

• The Court decamps to Salisbury, not returning until 1666

1666: Great Fire of London

• The city burns for 4 days, destroys over 13,000 buildings

• Charles II took charge of both firefighting and rebuilding efforts

proved competent through managing these challenges

Act of Indemnity and Oblivion

August 1660: Charles gives royal assent to the Act, which gives a general pardon for crimes committed during the Civil Wars

• similar to peace of westaphalia

• The Interregnum was “forgotten” by law

  • all of those laws are gone

• Only exception: the regicides

  • if you signed = you were punished

Crown lands were restored to the Crown, private land seizures had to be privately litigated

Ten surviving regicides were executed

• 24 regicides had already died, including Cromwell

Posthumous executions of Oliver Cromwell, Henry Ireton, and John Bradshaw (dug up corpses and hung them again, head on spikes)

• Clear demonstration of changing public opinion

  • tree where people were hung, throwing rotten fruit at the corpses

Criticisms: indemnity for his enemies, oblivion for his friends

• works, no other flare up of violence

legacy of the period

Parliament became a more legally-enshrined institution

• rules about what it can do

Factionalization of English politics leads to political parties forming

• MPs are representing political thoughts

Press freedom enshrined in the lapsing of the Licensing Actin 1695

• heavy press censorship is gone

Toleration of different Protestant factions

• Limited toleration of Jews in London

  • more than catholics

The English experiment of republicanism had major philosophical ramifications, including in the American and French Revolutions

stuart futures

1685: Charles II died with no legitimate children

Succeeded by his brother James II & VII

• James was openly Catholic but his heirs (daughters Mary & Anne) were Protestant

1688: James had a son by his wife  prospect of a return to Catholic monarchy

• Popular opinion HATES this

English politicos invite James’s son-in-law William of Orange to invade England and become king

William & Mary rule jointly until Mary dies in 1694; they had no children

1702: William dies

Anne inherits the throne; none of her children survived

• no heir: no more stuarts, unable to

1707: Anne dies, ending the Stuart dynasty

• has brother who is catholic: should not become king, but wants to

1707: Act of Union combines England & Scotland into Kingdom of Great Britain