The English Civil War, fought between the Cavaliers (Royalists) and Roundheads (Parliamentarians), the execution of King Charles I, the Abolition of the Monarchy [[140 years before the French did it]] and the English Republic of 1649 - 1660 under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell the Lord Protector, and the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.
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King Charles I - beheaded in 1649, then England became a Republic until 1660.



The Bishops' Wars, 1639 and 1640

The Bishops' Wars were fought between the Scots and English forces led by Charles I. These conflicts paved the way for the uprising of Parliament that began the English civil wars.

Charles I was attempting to enforce Anglican reforms onto the Scottish church. However the Scots were opposed to this, and even wanted to destroy the control that bishops had over the church. To this end, Charles' reforms were rejected by the Scottish Assembly at Glasgow in 1638. Scotland hadn't yet joined the Union with England and Wales - that wouldn't happen until 1707 - but Scotland and England/Wales had shared the same monarch since the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

Charles was furious that the Scots had rejected his proposals, and hastily formed an English force with which to march on Scotland in 1639. He did not have the funds for such a military expedition, nor confidence in his troops, so he was forced to leave Scotland without fighting a battle.

The unrest continued in Scotland, and when Charles discovered that they had been plotting with the French he again decided to mount a military expedition. This time, Charles called Parliament in order to get funds (1640).

When parliament formed, they immediately wanted to discuss grievances against the government, and were generally opposed to any military operation. This angered Charles and he dismissed parliament again, hence the name "Short Parliament" that it is commonly given.

Charles went ahead with his military operation without Parliament's support, and was beaten by the Scots. The Scots, taking advantage of this, went on to seize Northumberland and Durham.

Charles found himself in a desperate position, and was forced to call parliament again in November, 1640. This parliament is known as the "Long Parliament".




The Civil Wars 1642-51
The tension between Charles and Parliament was still great, since none of the issues raised by the Short Parliament had been resolved. This tension was brought to a head on January 4th, 1642 when Charles attempted to arrest five members of parliament. This attempt failed, since they were spirited away before the king's troops arrived.
Charles left London and both he and parliament began to stockpile military resources and recruit troops.

Charles officially began the war by raising his standard at Nottingham in August, 1642. Robert Devereux (3rd Earl of Essex) was made parliamentary commander.

At this stage of the wars, parliament had no wish to kill the king. It was hoped that Charles could be reinstated as ruler, but with a more constructive attitude to parliament.

The majority of the country was neutral in the civil wars, and both sides only had about 13,000 men in 1642.

The areas of Royalist support tended to be the North, West and Wales. Parliament were supported by the richer South and East, including London. Parliament also held most of the ports, since the merchants that ran them saw more profit in a parliament-lead country.


Maps of territory held by Royalists (Cavaliers) in the red, and Parliamentarians (Roundheads) in the green.


Parliament definitely had access to more resources than the king, and could collect taxes. Charles had to depend on donations from his supporters to fund his armies.

The first war stretched from 1642 to 1646, beginning with the king's raising of the standard.

Charles marched on London, hoping for a quick victory that would negate the benefits of parliament's resources. He was met at Edgehill (Oct 23 1642) by Essex and a battle was fought. This battle proved inconclusive, but failed to stop Charles' advance. He was met by another force at Turnham Green, however, and was forced to turn away from London.

Charles withdrew to Oxford, where his headquarters was based for the rest of the war.

In 1643, many battles were fought all over the country.

The royalist forces won at Adwalton Moor (Jun 30), taking control of Yorkshire. They also won at Lansdown and Roundway Down (Jul) in the South-West, allowing Prince Rupert to take Bristol.

The forces of parliament won at Winceby (Oct 11), taking Lincoln, but on the whole had the worst part of military actions for the year.

At Newbury (Sep), a large battle took place that was inconclusive. After this testing of the major armies, both sides sought allies elsewhere.

Parliament drew up the "Solemn League & Covenant", which promised the Scots religious reforms in return for their help.

Charles negotiated a cease-fire in Ireland that freed English troops for action on the mainland.

In 1644, military actions were more balanced. Parliament won at Marston Moor (Jul 2), allowing them to take York with the Scots' help. They lost at Lostwithiel in the South-West, and withdrew from Newbury after a second inconclusive battle.

In 1645, the New Model Army was formed by Fairfax. This army won two important victories, at Naseby (Jun 14) and at Langport (Jul 10), effectively destroying all of Charles' armies.

In 1646, Charles had little choice but to disband his remaining forces. Oxford surrendered, and Charles fled North seeking refuge with the Scots, bringing the first war to a close.

Charles was ransomed by parliament, and held at Holmby House whilst parliament drew up proposals. In the mean time, parliament began to disband its army.

However, the army was unhappy about issues such as arrears of pay and living conditions, and resisted the disbandment. Eventually the army kidnapped Charles in an attempt to win a bargaining piece. However, Charles escaped to the Isle of Wight.

Increasingly concerned, the army marched to London (Aug 1647) and debated proposals of their own at Putney.

Charles took advantage of this shift of emphasis away from him to negotiate a new agreement with the Scots, again promising church reform (Dec 28 1647). This agreement lead to the second war.

A series of royalist rebellions and a Scottish invasion (Jul 1648) took place. However, all were defeated by the now powerful standing army. This new betrayal by Charles caused parliament to debate whether Charles should be returned to power at all. Those who still supported Charles' place on the throne tried once more to negotiate with him.

The army, angry that parliament were still considering Charles as a ruler, marched on parliament and conducted "Pride's Purge" (named such since the commanding officer of the operation was Sir Thomas Pride). 45 MP's were arrested, 146 were kept out of parliament, and only 75 were allowed in, and then only to do the army's bidding.

This rump parliament was ordered to set up a high court of justice in order to try Charles I for treason in the name of the people of England.

The trial of the king (Jan 1649) found Charles guilty as charged, and he was beheaded on January 30th.

Oliver Cromwell then lead the army in quelling revolts in Ireland and Scotland (1649-50) to finally restore an uneasy peace.

Charles II was then crowned in Scotland, claiming that the throne was rightfully his. He marched with the Scots on England. Cromwell beat the Scottish forces at Dunbar (Sep 3 1650), but could not prevent Charles II marching deep into England.

Cromwell finally engaged the new king at Worcester (Sep 3 1651) and beat him. Charles II fled abroad, ending the civil wars.

The Commonwealth was then established, with Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector of England.
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The New Model Army

Cromwell created a New Model Army (and a New Model Navy) to fight the Royalists.


A Roundhead soldier.

In the closing stages of 1644, Oliver Cromwell realised that the existing parliamentary armies were less than ideal. Using his influence in parliament, he proposed the Self-Denying Ordinance. This stated that any member of the House of Commons or the House of Lords holding a military commission should resign it.

This was intended to remove the aristocratic leaders, such as the Earl of Essex , and the Earl of Manchester, from the armies, allowing true military leaders to take their place.

In addition to this, the armies were to be combined and reorganised into the "New Model". The personal regiments would be split up and pay standardised. Food and provisions of clothing would be guaranteed to all in order to encourage soldiers to agree to the changes.

The "Soldier's Catechism" was drawn up, which laid down rules and regulations, as well as correct drill procedures, in order that the soldiers would know what was expected of them.

This army was proposed in February 1645, and began to come into being in April 1645. Conscription was necessary to make up the numbers envisaged, although this was for a small percentage of the army.

Significantly, the phrase "the protection of his Majesty's person" was not included in the description of the task of this army, although "the defence of the King and Parliament" remained.




The Army
Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed the new Lord General of the army. He had no political connections, and was a good soldier, making him ideal for the post.

The army consisted of a total of 22,000 men, broken down in the following way:


Type .......No of Regiments ..........No in Each Regiment
Cavalry...... 11 ................................600
Infantry ......12 ..............................1200
Dragoons.... 1 ...............................1000
Artillery .......N/K .............................N/K



The infantry were issued with red uniforms to replace their existing regiment's colour. Cavalry were issued with light headpieces, armour front & back, and a buffcoat of leather.

The pay was set at eight pence a day for infantry, and two shillings a day for cavalry. Those in the cavalry had to provide their own horse.

Promotion was now done strictly on military prowess, and no longer on a family or monetary basis.

Interestingly, although supposedly unable to hold his military commission, due to the Self-Denying Ordinance, Oliver Cromwell continued to lead cavalry, and was eventually excepted by Parliament and made General of Horse in June 1645.
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The Trial and Execution Of Charles I


The trial was arranged so as to be as public as possible. The intention was to justify the execution of Charles I in the eyes of the people, many of whom did not wish to see the king dead.

Sir Thomas Fairfax also did not want to see him dead, and protested that killing Charles would only lead to further problems with his successor, then Prince of Wales. However, his protestations fell on deaf ears.

No English laws could be discovered in all history that dealt with the trial of the monarch. The order convening the court was written by a Dutch lawyer, Isaac Dorislaus, and dated back to the Roman era, wherein the Praetorian Guard (a military body) could leagally overthrow a tyrant.

The rump parliament elected a court of commissioners 135 strong on 1 Jan 1649. However, only 68 of these obeyed this summons. None of the existing high court judges agreed to preside over the court, and a lawyer called John Bradshaw was elected president.

The House of Lords threw this ordinance out the very next day. However, parliament re-enacted the ordinance on the 4th, although only 46 MP's were now in the house, and only 26 of these voted for the ordinance.

The king himself, although forced to attend, refused to acknowledge the court, considering it completely illegal. Fairfax refused to attend, and strove to save the king from execution, but could not do so without dividing the army against itself, which could have led to further hostilities.

Apart from the commissioners and the king, the hall was crowded with soldiers to guard against possible attacks. Bradshaw himself apparently wore an iron hat, fearing for an assassination attempt. Ironically, though, the pubilc were not allowed into the hall until after the charge had been read, since it was so sketchy, and the public so supportive of the king, that it was considered too dangerous.

Charles was found guilty, and sentenced to death on 26 Jan. On the 30th, he was lead from St. James' Palace to Whitehall to be executed. At 1.00pm he was beheaded in front of a crowd kept back by thick ranks of soldiers. His last words, printed and sold on that very day, were:


"I have delivered my conscience; I pray God you do take those courses that are best for the good of the kingdom and your own salvation."

A contempory diarist wrote that when his head was held up "...there was such a groan by the thousands then present...", since none were happy to see him dead.




Execution of King Charles I, outside the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall palace, 30th January 1649.


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