1. The Causes of the English Civil War
A Timeline of Events
1629 – 1640
Charles I’s personal rule without parliament
1630’s
William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, introduces High Church Anglicanism. There are protests by Puritans.
1636
Protests against the imposition of Ship Money Tax. Oliver Cromwell is elected to Parliament.
1637 – 1639
Two Bishops Wars – Charles I is defeated by the Scottish Presbyterians.
1640
King Charles I summons the Long Parliament [1640 – 1659]
1641
The Impeachment of the Earl of Strafford. There is rebellion in Ireland.
1642
King Charles I attempts to arrest his five leading opponents in Parliament but fails. King Charles I leaves London.
During the 1620s there are frequent clashes between James I (reigned 1603-25) and his son Charles I (1625-49), and Parliament. Between 1629 and 1640 Charles I, determined to impose his doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, rules without Parliament. William Laud, his Archbishop of Canterbury, attempts to impose High Church Anglicanism despite the protests of the Puritans. In Scotland, similar protests by the Presbyterians provoke open rebellion and the king is defeated by the Scots in Two Bishops’ Wars in 1637-39. In 1640 the king recalls Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, from Ireland and summons Parliament. Under the leadership of John Pym, the Parliamentarians immediately attack Strafford, who is impeached for plotting to bring an Irish army over to England. He is tried, found guilty and executed in November 1641. In April 1642, after failing to arrest his five leading opponents in Parliament, the King leaves London (he will only return for his trial in the winter of 1648). He establishes his head-quarters at Oxford, while the Parliamentarians remain in control of London.
Archbishop William Laud
King Charles I
Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford
In 1640 the king recalls Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, from Ireland and summons Parliament. Under the leadership of John Pym, the Parliamentarians immediately attack Strafford, who is impeached for plotting to bring an Irish army over to England. He is tried, found guilty and executed in November 1641. In April 1642, after failing to arrest his five leading opponents in Parliament, the King leaves London (he will only return for his trial in the winter of 1648). He establishes his head-quarters at Oxford, while the Parliamentarians remain in control of London.