CHARLES 1640-49 (AQA A LEVEL HISTORY)

Treaty of Ripon 1640

Terms: a further truce, payment by Charles of their expenses (£850 a day), postponement of further negotiations to end the war until a Parliament met (Parliamentary advantage)

Pym's Junto

A small, organised group led by John Pym who worked together to gain or maintain power (opposition to Charles). Linked to MPs and certain members of the Lords.

Main priorities:

-Impose own plans

-Replace Charles' advisors with their own

-Removal and punishment of Laud and Wentworth

-A political settlement without the threat of being overturned by Charles

-Removal of the threat of Catholic popery

-Establishment of a strong Protestantism

-Address grievances (religion, finances - ship money, parliamentary privileges)

Criticisms of Charles excluding political

-The London Crowd supported Parliamentary causes (15,000 signed the Root and Branch Petition)

-Pym's influence

-Ireland and Scotland opposed the king

Long Parliament 1640

Met in November 1640 and wasn't dissolved until 1660. MPs wanted their grievances addressed, and in 1640, a majority of MPs were united against the abuses of Personal Rule and wanted to reform Charles' rule from within (example: laws passed in the early days of parliament)

Concessions of Charles

Removed bishops (Root and Branch petition) and agreed to the impeachment of Wentworth

Root and Branch Petition 1640

Introduced in December 1640 and called for the elimination of Catholic parts of the Church and England, also called for the abolition of bishops and episcopacy. Presented to Parliament in 1641. Was signed by 15,000 Londoners

Caused divisions:

Pym (chief supporter) but didn't aim to destroy the church (he sought the removal of Charles' influence by establishing a system of lay patronage in place of bishops, to allow locals more control of their church - Arminians (minority supported by the King), hope that the church would enable to revert to a moderate Protestant Church of England)

Divisions over what to replace Laudianism with

Many saw dismantling of the Church structure as undermining the whole order of society (some supported Charles being the symbol of the Church)

Bedford's proposed financial settlement

The Earl of Bedford's attempt to reform crown finances by trying to bridge gaps between Crown and Parliament. Bedford and his allies (e.g John Pym, in the Commons) proposed a compromise without any change to the political system.

-Abolition of the most confrontational financial and political aspects of Personal Rule

-A return to an Elizabethan-based broad Protestant church

-A separate financial settlement for Charles I

-Bedford to be Lord Treasure and Pym to be Chancellor of the Exchequer

Charles was reluctant to settle with Bedford and Bedford's death in May 1641 made further progress difficult

Charles and Wentworth's relationship

~Wentworth was loyal to Charles and had shown that he was capable of dealing with conflict in Ireland

~He was to become Charles' main advisor, to sort out growing problems such as bankruptcy and war with the Scottish Covenanters

~Wentworth supported Charles' desire to renew the war against the Scots whereas Parliament wanted peace

Parliament's criticisms of Wentworth

~Wentworth took a heavy-handed approach in handling the Irish situation, and he wanted to raise parliamentary funds to wage war against the Scots

~A real risk of punishment for openly criticising the king, so it was easier to blame Charles' "evil councillors" for the Scottish crisis

~A direct attack on Charles risked undermining the Divine Right of Kings and the whole system of gov. and society, and might prompt an unwanted revolution led by those outside the Political Nation

~MPs were split on their views of Wentworth, some moderates e.g. Bedford wanted him to be imprisoned, while others e.g. Lord Warwick, wanted him executed. The Scots were also demanding of Wentworth's death

Bill of Attainder 1641

This allowed anyone who was seen as a threat to the state to be removed by Parliament without the need for a formal trial

Wentworth's impeachment 1640

Long Parliament wanted to impeach Wentworth for attempting to bring the Irish army to England to help Charles control his country. Impeachment was proposed for two reasons:

1. Parliament hoped that without Charles' "evil councillors", Charles would see the need to accept reform and rule with Parliament

2. Rather than changing the whole system, the removal of evil councillors would allow their replacement with men like Pym and Bedford (Parliament saw as a good government)

Wentworth's trial before Parliament started in March 1641 and he was executed on 12th May 1641

Wentworth and the Bill of Attainder

Some MPs supported the bill while others didn't, Bedford was more cautious and wanted to negotiate a bridge to Charles' gov., and in return was trying to ensure that Wentworth's punishment didn't extend to execution.

Feb 1641 - Scots declared that they wouldn't make peace unless there was an end to bishops in Scotland and Wentworth was dead

April 1641 - Charles ordered all officers to return to their commands with the English army in the North (seen as a plan to use the army against Parliament, and there were rumours that Charles was planning to dissolve Parliament)

Bill of Attainder passed (204 votes to 59) after Chales giving his assent and condemning Wentworth to death (Atmosphere of Army Plot, Protestation Oath and London Crowd = fear for his family)

Triennial Act 1641

Passed on 15th Feb 1641, it abolished ship money without Parliamentary consent, it stated that Charles had to call a Parliament every 3 years (should last a minimum of 50 days). If the king failed to do this, the written legal order for calling Parliament would be done automatically by the Lord Chancellor (no more Personal Rule)

Development of a Royalist party

After Bedford's death in May 1641, MPs e.g. Pym attempted other ways of solving the problems between Parliament and Crown, and this created divisions in Parliament, leading to the formation of a Royalist party (divisions: preventing Personal Rule, Bill of Attainder, religion).

Moderates = scared that actions/beliefs of radicals e.g. Pym posed more of a threat to political order than did Charles I.

Moderates reaction 1640-42 = constitutional royalism

Radical Puritanism = nobles and gentry panicked and looked to the concept of monarchy, rather than Charles himself, as the best protection for a moderate Protestant Church, law, order and their continued influence

Ten Propositions 1641

Introduced in June 1641 and confirmed the radicalism of Parliament. Made clear that the king would need to make some concessions, including:

~Parliamentary input into who was in his Privy Council

~Parliamentary control of those around the Queen

~Parliamentary control over religious education for the royal children

(Little chance that Charles would agree to such restrictions)

Reaction in Scotland 1641

-Radicals in the Covenanting alliance had gone too far too fast

-August 1640 = Earl of Montrose and 17 other Scottish nobles signed the Cumbernauld Band (desire to defend the king) (Divisions in Scotland)

-Charles appreciated that an agreement with some leading Scots would remove the occupying Scottish army (main prop for his Long Parliament opponents). Charles chose to accept the abolition of episcopacy in Scotland and the Scottish reforms to date

-August 1641 - King left for Scotland. Eng House of Commons distrusted Charles and organised a Committee of Defence to send commissioners to keep an eye on Charles. But some questioned whether Charles should be watched (divisions)

The Incident 1641

October 1641. Royalist plot to kidnap Radical Scottish Covenanters. The instigators = more extreme royalists and moderate Covenanters, they wanted to be rid of leading radical Covenanter leaders. This destroyed Charles' hopes of gaining further support in Scotland (linked to the plot because he attended the Parliament in Edinburgh on 12th October, accompanied by an armed force). Charles left Scotland in November 1641 (no support, forced to appoint his opponents to key posts in the English Parliament)

Irish Rebellion

Began in October 1641 and lasted over the winter of 1641-42

-Fear of Catholicism and the invasion of its forces were heightened by the distorted accounts of the massacres presented by the press (Assessments of the number killed range widely, from 3,000 to 12,000)

-Protestant English politicians became radicalised (determined to avenge the Protestant massacres). The fear was also led by the second Army Plot of 1641 (plan that Wentworth would bring the English army in Ireland to England for Charles' use against Parliament)

-Radicalisation affected the development of support for the monarchy from moderate MPs

Radicalised the situation in England

Grand Remonstrance 1641

November 1641. A list full of criticisms of Charles' government since 1625 which, for Pym, showed why the king could not be trusted with the control of the army that needed to be raised to crush the Irish Rebellion.

Timed to come before the King's return from Scotland to appeal to the London Crowd

Strongly anti-Catholic

Stated that an Assembly of Divines was to be held separately at Westminister to discuss religious settlement (Pym and his allies made sure the parliamentary division relating to religion was sidelined, as it proved to be a difficult issue to resolve even with a group of radical MPs)

The Westminister Assembly of Divines met in July 1643 (religious issues set aside = focus = gaining political settlement)

Significance of the Grand Remonstrance

1. Direct attack on Charles despite the document being careful not to accuse the king directly

2. Political issues were being deliberately and openly directed away from Westminister in order to involve the people themselves as a means of putting pressure on MPs

3. The debate about the publication of the Grand Remonstrance shows divisions in Parliament (debate lasted 12 hours and the final vote 159 to 148 in favour of passing it shows divisions in Parliament. Many MPs had also left Parliament because of the development of parliamentary radicalism and Pym's growing influence)

Additional instruction

Introduced in Nov 1641 by Pym. Stated that if Parliament was going to help raise an army to subdue Ireland, Charles should only appoint councillors approved by Parliament. Pym only won this vote by 151 votes to 110

Royalist view

IN SUPPORT OF CHARLES.

Moderates reacted to the radicalism of the Grand Remonstrance

Moderates believed that Charles was the rightful commander of the army which was to be sent to Ireland

Radical view

AGAINST CHARLES.

Radical MPs supported the Grand Remonstrance, believing that Charles could not be trusted to lead the army against Catholic Ireland

One of the Irish leaders, Sir Phelim O'Neill, claimed to be killing English Protestants in Charles' name and produced a forged royal warrant. This gave fuel to the idea that Charles could not be trusted

Militia Bill 1641

Introduced by Haselrig in December 1641 to

-Remove the king's powers over the trained bands completely

-Give Parliament the power to appoint army commanders

Proposed that Parliament would be in control of the army raised to crush the Irish rebels (questioned Charles' royal prerogative, attempt to transfer prerogative powers to Parliament)

Charles' response to the Militia Bill

Charles positioned himself as the "defender of fundamental law" against the revolutionaries in his public statement in December (including The King's Answer to the Petition accompanying the Grand Remonstrance). Charles' response won over constitutional royalists e.g. Edward Hyde and others

Five Members Coup 1642

January 1642. Attempted impeachment of Pym, Hampden, Haselrig, Holles, William Strode and Edward Montagu.

Lords accepted a Commons vote of impeachment against the bishops (Dec 1642) - potentially leading to their removal and loss of royalist support in the Lords

Charles regarded Parliament as being subverted by a small radical group motivated by Puritans

Charles' attempted coup resulted in failure.

He entered the House of Commons (forbidden - invites only) to arrest them, the coup were forewarned and had left

Consequences of the Five Members Coup

~Pym could use this as further proof of the danger Charles posed and that he couldn't be negotiated with

~Demonstrations against Charles meant that he was forced to flee to Hampton Court

Exclusion Bill 1642

February 1642. Support for the bill was encouraged by a petitioning campaign.

End of Dec 1641 - petition for the removal of bishops from Parliament had 30,000 signatures

5th Feb 1642 - Lords accepted the bill due to pressure from the London crowd, lessening the influence of King on Parliament

Nineteen Propositions 1642

June 1642. Issued by Parliament, demanded for a negotiated settlement

1. All Privy Council had to be approved by Parliament

2. Five impeached MPs must be pardoned

3. Charles had to accept the Militia Ordinance and the Triennial Act

4. Parliament must direct a reformation of the church

Response to the Nineteen Propositions

Constitutional royalists wrote 'The Answer to the Nineteen Propositions' for the king. It portrayed the king as the force that would prevent anarchy and Parliament' proposals would lead to a 'dark equal chaos of confusion' in which the threat of popular rebellion was imminent

Royalist reaction to iconoclasm

National events = impact on moderates who were concerned by the Presbyterianism of the Scots and Pym's links with them, as well as the growth of radicalism. To moderates, economic riots, social breakdowns and iconoclasm confirmed that both the monarchy and the Church should be maintained in order to establish order.

Iconoclasm = linked with the fear of increasing influence of Pym and radical MPs. Pym = brought a resolution through the Commons in 1641 encouraging iconoclasm against popish images and altar rails. The commitment to the established church became central to the emerging royalist party 1641-42

Declaration of the First Civil War

22nd August 1642 - Charles declared war on Parliament by raising his standard at Nottingham. Ended in 1646