The crisis of Parliament and the outbreak of the First Civil War, 1640-1642

The Political Nation, 1640

Pym and the development of Parliamentary radicalism

Conflicts between Crown and Parliament

The slide into war

strengths and weaknesses of Charles I

sources of division

the recall of parliament

strengths and divisions of parliamentary opposition

the short parliament

the long parliament

  • with no money to fight the scots, wentworth suggested charles recall parliament
  • the session began on the 13th april 1640 with charles' expectation that parliament would grant him subsidies and then he would listen to their grievances
  • may - act against dissolution
  • 1641 - 15th feb - triennial act
  • dec - root + brank petition, impeachment of laud
  • nov - impeachment of strafford
  • 3rd nov - opening of long parliament
  • august - petition of twelve peers
  • 5th may - dissolution of short parliament
  • 1640 - 13th april - opening of short parliament

key chronology

however, the parliament dissolved without the king nor parliament getting what they want because...

  • charles still had some expectation that the spanish king or pope would give him money
  • strafford had suggested using the irish army against the covenanters
  • strafford was ill and couldn't help charles in discussing with parliament
  • some in parliament sympathised with the covenanters
  • many didn't trust charles to keep his word if subsidies were given
  • it was events in scotland that meant parliament were recalled on 3rd november 1640
  • charles was weak and desperate for parliaments money

sources of the kings strength

fatal weaknesses

  • support in the house of lords due to many of the lords wealth + status being held by charles
  • supremacy in the legal system allowed charles to arrest + trial many of his opponents
  • command of the army meant charles could call the milita and deploy the army at his own will
  • censorship of the press allowed charles to surpress those who challenged him
  • authority over foreign policy meant charles could go to other countires, such as spain, for help
  • determined and effective ministers such as laud and wentworth meant charles could run the three kingdoms easier with their support
  • resources of the three kingdom financially, militarily, religiously + politically
  • unable to handle debate and saw criticism as disloyalty
  • very arrogant

sources of strength

  • unity of purpose meant the majority of the commons and lords were united in the goals to remedy the abuses of personal rule + revive the kings relationship with the country

parliament goals + actions

goal

action

  • dismantle the prerogative courts

star chamber abolioshed in july 1641

  • abolish ship money and tonnage + poundage

ship money act (1640) and T+P act (june 1641)

  • remove the kings evil counsellors

strafford impeached (nov 1640), laud impeached (dec 1640)

  • removed laudianism from anglican church

root + branch petition presented to commons (dec 1640)

  • ensure regular parliaments

triennial act (15th feb 1641)

  • prevent dissolution without consent

act against dissolution (may 1641)

  • quality of intellect was very important as most of the opposition, particularly in the commons, were well educated and intelligent
  • political support from londoners which was shown from the 15,000 signatures on the root and branch petition

initiatives intended to restore a good working relationship with the king

from the lords (bridge appointments)

  • the earl of bedford who was a moderate man suggested bridge appointments which would provide charles with a stable source of finance and in return the king would hold regular parliaments
  • but the plan fell apart when charles found out bedford was collaborating with the covenanters trying to make peace

the ten propositions

a document brought by pym before parliament on the 24th june that would've dramatically limited charles' powers

  • disbandment of army in north
  • parliamentary input in privy council members
  • oversight in queens household + catholic circle

root and branch debates

context of the bill

content of the bill

arguments over the bill

  • the long parliament set about reforming the church
  • it intended to abolish the offices of archbishops and bishops
  • this would dismantle the structure of the CofE + alter the composition of the house of lords
  • politically it would also reduce charles' powers as he appointed bishops
  • the bill showed many divisions in parliament between people who wanted a more puritan church and those who wanted to return it to the pre-laudian state ("true reformed protestant religion")

the grand remonstrance

the london mob

pyms personality and aims

popular radicalism

personality

aims

  • some say he was respectful + well tempered
  • others say he had a lack of humour + poor people skills
  • wasn't inherently revolutionary
  • his goal was to restore the church to how it was during the early stage of James I rule

the army plot

  • rumours spread that charles was going to use force to make parliament reverse its legislation

key chronology

  • 1641 - 19th april - charles ordered officers to return to their troops
  • 10th may - death of the earl of bedford
  • 10th may - act against dissolution
  • 6th may - protestation oath presented to parliament
  • sept-oct - parliamentary recess
  • 3rd may - news breaks of the army plot
  • nov - grand remonstrance
  • on the 19th April 1641, news emerged that charles had ordered all his army officers to return to their commands with the english army in the north
  • pym broke this information to parliament in early may and it triggered high tensions as people thought charles would use the army to free strafford and then forcibly dissolve parliament

significance of the army plot

  • a 'protestation oath was issued on 6th may
  • the act of dissolution was passed on the 10th may
  • parliament stepped up efforts on strafford who was executed on 12th may

content

  • in november 1641, pym introduced a grand remonstrance to the commons which majorly opened up divisions
  • it contained an overview of charles reign and presented a list of demands
  • such as... clearing the HoL from bishops and catholic peers
  • and parliament were to have more influence in the selection of royal officers

pyms miscalculation?

  • some saw the remonstrance as too radical and rejected it, which too pym was a sign of support for the crown
  • it was only passed by 159 votes to 148
  • it caused major debate in the commons on whether to publish the remonstrance due to tradition (fear if disorder) and a new force in politics (london mob)

tradition

new force in politics

  • publishing the remonstrance would destabilise the political order of the country
  • potential power of the london mob to push through a more radical agenda

the connection between the mob + parliament

  • when charles lost control of censorship, pamphlets began to flood the streets
  • parliament began to actively harness the mob to increase pressure on charles (e.g root and branch petition)
  • puritan sentiment had already began radicalising under the pressure of laudianism

evidence of popular radicalism

  • spreading of books
  • threatening of priests
  • riots nation wide

factors feeding religious radicalism

  • collapse of thorough
  • release of prisoners
  • abolition of prerogative courts
  • the puritan network
  • neutralising of laud
  • collapse of censorship

key chronology

failure of negotiations between king and the long parliament

  • 1641 - march - trial of strafford opens
  • april - impeachment abandoned
  • may - death of bedford
  • may - the army plot
  • may - strafford executed under act of attainder
  • aug - charles travels to scotland
  • oct - 'the incident'
  • nov - grand remonstrance
  • dec - kings response to petition

the army plot

bedfords bridging schemes

settlement in scotland

  • looked promising at first but collapsed after bedfords death
  • the cumbernauld band were a group of 18 noble scots who expressed their loyalty had been alarmed by the development of radicalism
  • the incident was where charles tried to remove the most radical covenanters (agryll + hamilton) by marching into the Edinburgh parliament with armed troops on the 12th october
  • however, the plot had been leaked and they escaped
  • the incident showed to everyone that once again charles could not be trusted

the execution of strafford and its political consequences

  • there was lots of worry about what strafford would do now he was back in england, even though he was imprisoned in the tower of london
  • he had reformed and revived the irish army + offered it to charles in 1640 so there were worried charles could use the irish army

the trial of strafford

  • the prosecution was that strafford was trialed for was trying to establish an arbitrary
  • however, the prosecution was very weak with strafford holding a good defense and the charges being seriously flawed
  • it looked quite possible that the trial would collapse

the bill of attainder

  • pym changed his tactics and instead drew up a bill of attainder which had to be passed through the house of commons + the house of lords and finally consented by charles
  • it firstly passed through the commons
  • then after the army plot the lords agreed to the bill
  • finally, under huge pressure charles turned the bill into an act and he could do nothing but watch when strafford was executed on the 12th may 1641 in front of a crowd of 100,000

key chronology

  • 1641 - oct - outbreak of irish rebellion
  • nov - the additional instruction
  • nov - charles returns from scotland
  • dec - the militia bill
  • 1642 - jan - failed arrest of the 5 members
  • feb - exclusion bill
  • march - militia ordinance
  • july - the 19 propositions
  • july - parliament raises an army
  • aug - charles raises his standard

the impact of events in ireland

  • on october 22nd 1641 catholics in ireland took key strongholds and started a blood bath in an attempt to overthrow the protestant ulster plantation

reasons for the rebellion

  • the irish wanted a similar settlement to the scots but with a strong catholic flavour, but the long parliament wanted to enforce an anti-catholic policy
  • as well as this, many irish catholics wanted revenge on settlers in the ulster plantation who had evicted many irish families

significance of the irish rebellion

  • parliament needed to give charles an army to deal with the crisis in ireland but were worried if he could be trusted with the army in his control

the militia bill

  • this resulted in the milita bill being introduced by sir arthur haselrig on 7th december 1641
  • this would remove the kings power to summon militia + give parliament the power to appoint army commanders

failed arrest of the five members

  • charles thought he was strong enough to try to reassert his royal authority by the end of 1641

impeachment proceedings

  • on the 29th december a vote of impeachment against the bishops was accepted
  • charles then launched treason proceedings against Pym, Hampden, Denzil Holles, Sir Arthur Haselrig, William Strode + Edward Montagu
  • on the 4th january, charles heard they were in parliament so he sent an army of 500 soldiers to arrest them but the MP's had been forewarned and fled to safety in the city of london

aftermath

  • the london mob surged onto the streets
  • charles fled london and would'nt return until 1649

a new flurry of legislation followed...

  • exclusion bill on the 5th february 1642 (removed bishops from house of lords)
  • and the militia ordinance was put before parliament on the 15th february

local grievances

indicators of local allegiances

religion was a key decider with more than half or parliament being puritans and 1/3 of the royalist gentry being catholic

geography with the north being more on the side of the king and the south being more parliament

individual rivalries with members on each side

neutralism

  • choosing to take neither side was probably the natural choice for the majority of ordinary englishmen

attempts to impose royal authority and the development of the royalist party

reasons to support the king

  • fear of disorder
  • constitutional royalism
  • religious moderation

failure of negotiations between king + parliament

parliaments last effort to contain the king came in the form of the 19 propositions which were very radical and impossible for charles to approve

they included...

  • parliament take responsibility for educating royal children + royal marriages
  • new, stronger anti-catholic policy
  • the 5 members cleared of all charges
  • the king should approve the militia ordinance

as expected charles rejected the propositions

military preparations for war

  • by may, both sides began to issue orders for local gentry to raise the militia
  • on the 22nd august the king raised his standard in nottingham, summoning all men and women to his cause
  • the war was underway