Overview

The English Civil War Begins

22 August 1642

On 22 August 1642, King Charles I raised his royal standard at Nottingham, an event traditionally regarded as marking the beginning of the English Civil War. The conflict brought the monarchy and Parliament into open warfare and ultimately transformed the political, religious, and constitutional history of England.

The struggle was not caused by a single dispute. It emerged from years of conflict over royal authority, Parliament's powers, taxation, religion, and the government of the kingdoms ruled by Charles I. By the summer of 1642, attempts at compromise had collapsed, and both the king and Parliament were preparing for war.

Charles I and Parliament

Charles I became king in 1625, succeeding his father, James VI and I. Charles strongly believed in the authority of the monarchy and frequently clashed with Parliament over taxation and the limits of royal power.

Relations deteriorated so severely that Charles dissolved Parliament in 1629 and governed without it for eleven years, a period commonly known as the Personal Rule.

Without parliamentary grants of taxation, Charles sought alternative sources of revenue. One of the most controversial was Ship Money, traditionally associated with coastal defense but extended by Charles more broadly.

Religious policy created additional tensions. Charles supported reforms associated with Archbishop William Laud, which many English Protestants believed were moving the Church of England dangerously close to Roman Catholic practices.

The king's marriage to the Catholic Henrietta Maria of France contributed further to suspicion among some of his Protestant subjects.

Crisis in Scotland

Charles also ruled Scotland, where attempts to impose religious changes provoked fierce resistance.

In 1637, the introduction of a new prayer book contributed to unrest and eventually the Bishops' Wars between Charles and his Scottish opponents.

War required money.

Unable to finance the conflict adequately, Charles was eventually forced to summon Parliament.

The Short Parliament met in April 1640 but lasted only a few weeks before Charles dissolved it.

Military and financial difficulties soon forced him to summon another Parliament in November 1640.

This became known as the Long Parliament.

The Political Crisis Deepens

The Long Parliament challenged many of the policies Charles had pursued during his Personal Rule.

Royal ministers were attacked politically, controversial financial measures were abolished, and Parliament attempted to ensure that the king could not govern indefinitely without calling another Parliament.

Distrust between the two sides intensified.

The situation reached a dramatic point on 4 January 1642, when Charles entered the House of Commons accompanied by armed men and attempted to arrest five members of Parliament whom he accused of treason.

The five members had already escaped.

The king's unprecedented intrusion into the Commons badly damaged his political position in London.

Charles soon left the capital.

England increasingly divided between those prepared to support the king and those prepared to support Parliament.

Royalists and Parliamentarians

Supporters of Charles became known as Royalists, and later popularly as Cavaliers.

Those fighting for Parliament became known as Parliamentarians, popularly remembered as Roundheads.

The divisions were not simple. Families, communities, towns and counties could contain supporters of both sides. Political loyalties could change as the war progressed.

Religion, local interests, personal relationships and political beliefs all influenced which side an individual supported.

By the summer of 1642, both sides were recruiting soldiers and collecting weapons.

Open warfare had become increasingly difficult to avoid.

August 22, 1642

Charles traveled to Nottingham, where on 22 August 1642 he ordered his royal standard to be raised.

The ceremony symbolized the king's call to arms against those he considered rebels against his authority.

The raising of the standard is traditionally used as the beginning date of the English Civil War.

The moment itself was apparently less impressive than later historical memory might suggest. Poor weather accompanied the ceremony, and the royal standard was reportedly blown down.

Nevertheless, its political significance was enormous.

The king and Parliament were now preparing to settle their dispute through military force.

The First Major Battle

The first major pitched battle occurred at Edgehill on 23 October 1642.

Neither side achieved a decisive victory.

Charles subsequently advanced toward London but failed to capture the capital.

The war continued across England and Wales as Royalist and Parliamentarian armies competed for control of strategically important towns, roads and regions.

For several years, neither side could secure a final victory.

That began to change with the development of Parliament's New Model Army.

Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army

One of the figures who rose to prominence during the conflict was Oliver Cromwell.

Originally a relatively minor member of Parliament, Cromwell became an increasingly important military commander.

In 1645 Parliament established the New Model Army, a more centralized and professionally organized fighting force.

Under commanders including Sir Thomas Fairfax and Cromwell, the army became extremely effective.

On 14 June 1645, Parliament's forces decisively defeated the king at the Battle of Naseby.

Naseby severely damaged the Royalist military position.

Charles eventually surrendered to Scottish forces in 1646, bringing the First Civil War largely to an end.

But the political crisis was far from over.

The Second Civil War

Negotiations failed to produce a lasting settlement.

Charles continued attempting to regain his authority and eventually reached an agreement with Scottish supporters.

Renewed Royalist uprisings in 1648 produced the Second English Civil War.

Parliament's army again defeated the king's supporters.

For the army's increasingly powerful leadership, Charles's role in provoking renewed bloodshed convinced them that a permanent settlement with him was impossible.

The unthinkable now became possible:

England would place its own king on trial.

Trial and Execution of Charles I

In January 1649, Charles I was tried before a specially established High Court of Justice.

He rejected the authority of the court and argued that no earthly institution possessed legitimate authority to try an anointed king.

Nevertheless, he was convicted of high treason.

On 30 January 1649, Charles I was executed outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London.

The execution of a reigning monarch was an extraordinary event.

England abolished the monarchy and the House of Lords and was declared a Commonwealth.

England Without a King

England entered an unprecedented republican period.

Oliver Cromwell eventually became Lord Protector in 1653 and governed until his death in 1658.

His son Richard Cromwell briefly succeeded him but lacked his father's political and military authority.

The republican system gradually collapsed.

In 1660, the monarchy was restored.

Charles I's eldest surviving son returned from exile and became King Charles II.

The event became known as the Restoration.

Legacy

The raising of Charles I's standard at Nottingham on 22 August 1642 represented the moment when years of political and religious disagreement became open armed conflict.

The wars that followed caused enormous disruption throughout England, Scotland and Ireland. Soldiers and civilians died, communities were divided, property was destroyed, and established ideas about monarchy and government were challenged.

Most dramatically, the conflict demonstrated that an English king could be defeated by his own subjects, placed on trial and executed.

Although the monarchy returned in 1660, the political questions exposed during the Civil Wars did not disappear. Arguments concerning the authority of the Crown and Parliament continued through the later seventeenth century and contributed to the constitutional changes that followed.

The events beginning in 1642 therefore occupy a central place in British history. What began as a confrontation between Charles I and Parliament developed into civil war, regicide, republican government and eventually the restoration of the monarchy.