INTRODUCTION

1642, the year civil war broke out between the two huge powers of Parliament and the Monarch. King Charles the 1st was later to be the first Monarch of England who was executed on charge of treason. This essay explores one of the many answers to the question, ‘Why did Civil War break out in England in 1642?’

POWER

One of the most important reasons of the civil war breaking out was power. Power was everything to both Parliament and Monarch. There were both long term causes and short term causes of the power struggle between Parliament and King. The status and authority of the monarchy had started to decline in the reign of James I. He was known as ‘the wisest fool in all of Christendom’. James believed strongly in ‘divine right’ (a concept that the monarch was given his power and authority by God himself and he should not be questioned). He expected Parliament to do anything he wanted and never expected argument over his decisions. However Parliament controlled the money in the nation and James was always short of it. Parliament and James always clashed over Customs Duties (A major source of James’ income). They told him that he could not collect it without permission and this enraged him, being questioned or argued against was something he did not expect. In 1611, he closed Parliament down and ruled without them for 10 years. In 1621 James summoned Parliament to discuss the future marriage of his son, Charles, to a Spanish Princess. Parliament was outraged by this and felt that if Charles gets married to a Catholic then what would become to nations religion and to the monarch’s children? Would they be raised as Catholics or Protestants? Spain was still not considered an ally or a friendly nation to England, many still remembered the Spanish Armada in 1588. The marriage never took place but the damaged relationship between King and Parliament was never mended. James died in 1625 leaving Charles to rule with a bad start and introduction to the crown. Charles was a very arrogant King and had witnessed the argument and struggle between the Monarchy and Parliament and felt it was entirely the Parliament’s fault. Just like James he was a believer in Divine Right but in a much more extremist sense, he found it difficult to accept a King could be wrong or at fault and all this along with the mistakes he made led to his execution. From 1625 to 1629, Charles argued with Parliament over most issues but money and religion were the most common causes. In 1629 Charles shut down Parliament for 11 years. These 11 years of ruling without Parliament was referred to MPs as the ‘Eleven Years of Tyranny’. Charles took any money he wanted during this period and raised further amounts of money by governing using the Court of the Star Chamber, a special court which heavily fined those brought before it. This court also persuaded rich men to buy themselves titles for immense amounts of money and if they refuse to they are charged a fine equivalent to the cost of the title! Charles had to recall Parliament in 1640 when he needed money to fight the Scots. Parliament however would not grant him money unless he met their demands. They demanded that the court of the Star Chamber be abolished. Any changes to the Church made by Archbishop Laud are reversed and Laud is imprisoned. The Earl of Strafford a terrible adviser to the King and hated by Parliament had to be punished through execution. In 1642 Parliament demanded for yet more power and passed the 19 propositions which included that the King could not pass a law without Parliament’s permission. Some people thought Parliament had gone too far. The King went to Oxford to raise a royalist army to combat the Parliament who had taken control of the country’s army. MPs were split they had mixed feelings as to whether Parliament had gone too far or whether the King was completely to blame and should be punished.

CONCLUSION

The main cause of the Civil War in 1642 in England was because of Power. Both Parliament and King wanted supreme power over Britain. When you are all powerful you have access to all the money and control the religion of the country. The disagreement and bad relationship between King and Parliament were all issues to do with Power, Money and Religion. But when the Parliament took too much power from the King they sparked civil war almost instantly.