Time flies when you’re having fun! I thought it was about a week since my last post – turns out to be rather more.

In August 1642 King Charles I raised his standard at Nottingham, effectively starting the English civil war. – this did not bode well for Nottingham Castle when Parliament gained the upper hand.  Essentially England was divided into the North and West which supported the king and the South and East which supported Parliament.  

October 1642 – Battle of Edgehill – not decisive. The Earl of Essex commanded Parliament’s army. Had Charles been able to reach London the war might have had a different outcome. Instead there was intermittent fighting across the country and the king based his court at Oxford.

1643 –

The Oxford Propositions – similar to the Nineteen Propositions and like them they were rejected.

Charles I came to an agreement with the Irish – which did not go down well in England. They joined the king’s men in Cheshire and the North-West but the use of Catholic troops was counter-productive as it gave Parliament propaganda gold.

The Royalists had the upper hand until Parliament came to an agreement with the Scots. In January 1644 a 22,000 man army would cross the border into England. The royalist army in the north was sandwiched between the Scots and the Parliamentarians.

1644

Rupert of the Rhine headed north with his cavalry to support the royalists.

July 1644 The Battle of Marston Moor – the royalist commander William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle lost the battle and left the country. It meant that the North of England came under the control of Parliament.

Newark remained a royalist stronghold but the tide had turned.

1645.

Parliament presented the king with the Uxbridge Propositions – yup – they were like the Nineteen Propositions and the king rejected them again.

June 1645 The New Model Army which was much more organised and professional than the royalists won the Battle of Naseby.

5 May 1646 Charles I surrendered to the Scots who gave him to Parliament in return for £400,000

In 1648 there were Royalist uprisings in many parts of the country including at Colchester. It became known as the Second Civil War. In August 1648 a joint force of Scots and English Royalists was destroyed by Oliver Cromwell’s army at Preston – many Scots fugitives were held captive at Chapel en le Frith.

In January 1649 – having been put on trial Charles I was executed.

A typical GCSE question asks: Explain the significance of the trial and execution of Charles I for royal authority…

It changed the relationship between the authority of the monarch king and parliament. Continuity of kingship was broken. There was a new form of government. The Commonwealth placed greater emphasis on the rights of men. Even when a monarch was restored, Parliament redefined prerogative rights and the idea of the Divine Right of Kings was dead in the water. It was certainly very evident that kings were only men and that they were fallible.

Charles I was viewed in many quarters as a tyrant. The idea of holding rulers to account was popular from then onwards e.g. America and France.

The changes were almost too radical. There was uncertainty and unrest. People didn’t know what to call Oliver Cromwell and when he died he was replaced with his son – Richard – in a way that was redolent of a royal accession. It meant that when the monarchy was restored, that it benefitted from a reluctance for change.