The struggle for power between the English monarchy and Parliament was a lengthy one. It started with Magna Charta in 1215 and culminated in the Civil War which began in 1642 in the reign of Charles I.

Charles was a bad king, lacking in judgement, extravagant, and indifferent to the corruption of his court and government. His life was dominated, and he was eventually brought to his death, by his preoccupation and belief in, "The Divine Right of Kings".

At the very start of his reign he involved himself in a war with Spain and France, then demanded Parliament to produce the funds for its prosecution. When Parliament refused he imposed, on his own authority, forced loans, excise and ship money taxes. Parliament struck back by producing, in 1628, The Petition of Rights, which denied the King's right to impose taxes, imprison or punish anyone without authorization of Parliament or proper legal processes.

While religion was not the prime reason for the differences between Charles and Parliament, there was certainly a religious involvement. The heirarchy of the Church of England supported the principle of absolute monarchy. This, together with a Catholic-inspired ritual, was an affront to the Puritans who dominated Parliament.

Unable to dominate Parliament, Charles ordered it to adjourn. But Parliament refused to comply and quickly passed three resolutions:

1. Whoever should seek to introduce a new religion or restore Popery, should be declared an enemy of the Kingdom and Commonwealth.

2. Whoever should counsel the levying of tonnage and poundage without leave of Parliament, should be held an enemy to his country.

3. Whoever should pay such taxes should be proclaimed a betrayer of the liberties of England.

Parliament was then forcibly adjourned at the King's orders, and the next day, Eliot [1], who had moved the resolution, was sent to the Tower where he was detained until his death in 1632.

From 1629 to 1640 [2], Charles ruled without a Parliament, and in his words, "by the authority which God had put into my hands, and so order the state that my people should confess that they lived more happily and freely than any subjects in the Christian world."

During this eleven year period he imposed taxes of all sorts without the permission of Parliament, Tonnage and poundage were collected from the merchants, and monopolies of all kinds were granted for considerations of cash. In 1630 he declared every person worth £40 per year should be a Knight and liable for a special tax; those who did not conform were heavily fined. Ship money for the support of the navy was levied, first on the maritime counties and finally, in 1633, on the entire nation. Although great sums were realized from these taxes it was not enough to meet the costs of government and pay the bills for the King's extravagances and unwise adventures.

In 1633 he appointed Laud [3] to be Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England. The Archbishop used his office to support the policies of the King. Through the bishops and acclesiastical courts he wielded great power. People in great numbers were accused of crimes against the church, and the heavy fines imposed were channeled into the royal treasury.

Another agency used by the King was the infamous Star Chamber. It had greater powers than ordinary law courts and was not controlled by rules of evidence or other legal procedure. It met in secret and enforced the King's proclamations by fines and imprisonment, and punished its opponents with vindictive severity.

In 1638 Charles attempted to extend the Church of England, which had adopted many Catholic rituals, to Scotland. The Scots responded with the Covenant [4] supporting Presbyterianism. He then decided to subdue the Scots and marched north with a hastily assembled army of twenty thousand men. The Scots, twenty-five thousand strong, under Alexander Leslie [5], gathered to defend their right to their own religious faith.

Although the King had used all his remaining resources to raise his army, it was nothing more than an unorganized mob. Totally lacking in training and poorly equipped it was incapable of fighting a battle. Realizing that he could not win, Charles, with uncharacteristic discretion, hastily made peace with the Scots.

Having exhausted his treasury and desperate for funds, Charles was forced to call Parliament together at last. He quickly demonstrated that he had learned nothing during his years of absolute rule by demanding it to furnish the means with which to defeat the Scots with whom he had just concluded a treaty of peace. The response of Parliament was to demand the restoration of its powers. Unable to have his way with Parliament, Charles adjourned it after a mere three weeks.

In the meantime the Scots, learning that Charles, despite his recent treaty with them, intended to crush them when he was able, reinvaded England and occupied the north. Charles, at wit's end, summoned what was to be his last Parliament.

The Long Parliament, as it became known, met in November, 1640, and proceeded to act with vigour and determination against its enemies. Strafford [6], who of all the King's ministers had been most aggressive in his service, was arrested and impeached. A month later Archbishop Laud was charged with treason and joined Strafford in the Tower. Other bishops and judges were given similar treatment. The hated Star Chamber was abolished and all the illegally imposed taxes were revoked.

Strafford was placed on trial and condemned to be executed. But before this could be done legally the King's assent was needed. To his credit, Charles refused to give his consent until it became apparent that the mobs were about to attack the palace. At this point, at the urging of Strafford himself, he finally signed the bill. On May 12, 1641, the Earl of Strafford was taken to Tower Hill and there beheaded in the presence of two hundred thousand people.

Things went from bad to worse for Charles. The Irish were in revolt, and in November, Parliament passed the Grand Remonstrance which described all the illegalities of the King's reign and the means by which Parliament proposed to correct them. King and Parliament were at a stalemate.

Three days later Charles, having decided to reassert what he considered to be his rights, returned to Parliament to demand the arrest and impeachment of the five members who had been most responsible for the Remonstrance. But Parliament refused to give them up. The next day Charles returned with soldiers to arrest them but found that they had escaped to a safe place.

From this point onward, it was evident that the majority of the people supported Parliament, and that its irreconcilable differences with the King could only be resolved by war. On July 4, 1642, Parliament accordingly appointed the Earl of Essex [7] to be its General and authorized him to raise a force of ten thousand men. Charles raised the Royal Standard at Nottingham and the two sides prepared for the coming struggle.

Notes for Chapter One:

[1] Sir John Eliot, one of Parliament's earliest and most severe critics of the monarchy.

[2] Firth (1), p. 19

[3] William Laud (Archbishop of Canterbury): strongly pro-Catholic and against the Puritans.

[4] The National Covenant of Scotland, 1638. It consisted of six articles:
----------(a) The preservation of the reformed church of Scotland;
----------(b) The extirpation of popery, prelacy, schism, etc.;
----------(c) The preservation of the liberties of Parliament and the King's person and authority;
----------(d) The discovery and punishment of all malignants;
----------(e) The preservation of peace between the two kingdoms;
----------(f) The assisting of all who enter into the covenant.

[5] Alexander Leslie (Earl of Levan)

[6] Thomas Wentworth (Earl of Strafford): President of the Council of the North, 1628; Lord Deputy of Ireland, 1632.

[7] The Earl of Essex, the son of (Essex), the favourite of Elizabeth I, whom she executed for treason.

Chapter Two: The Opening Phase