How Did the War Start? In order to understand how the war began, we have to look back to the beginning of the reign of Charles I in the 1620s… Parliament’s (Not So) Secret Weapon The King couldn’t just do what he liked The King believed that God had put him on the throne and made him supreme ruler of the country. But that didn’t mean that he could do whatever he liked. The king had a lot of power BUT Parliament had one very important power. They could say NO to him if he asked them for money. But why would the King ask Parliament for money? The king was very rich, but there were things that even the King couldn’t afford. War was expensive and the King wanted to send soldiers to fight in a war in Europe called The Thirty Years War. Parliament agreed to give the King money but the war went badly for England. The King’s soldiers caused a lot of problems in the towns they were staying in before they left the country to fight. And when they did fight, lots of English soldiers were killed. Parliament refused to give the King more money UNLESS he agreed to listen to their complaints about him. The complaints were put in a document called The Petition of Right. What were the Complaints? There were lots of them but the four big ones were: 1. The King must not make people pay any taxes that were not agreed by Parliament. 2. The King should not arrest anybody without a good reason. 3. The King could not force people to obey his soldiers when there wasn’t a war on. 4. The King’s soldiers could not force people to feed them and let them live in their houses (this was called billeting). The King’s (Not So) Secret Weapon Parliament couldn’t do what they liked The King had the right to open and close Parliament. When Parliament made him cross, he would shut Parliament and order all the Members of Parliament to go home. But he still needed money, so he was eventually forced to re-open Parliament and invite them back. During his arguments with Parliament, the King closed Parliament four times in three years. Finally, the King had had enough In 1629 the king closed Parliament and ruled the country without Parliament for 11 years. This part of the reign of King Charles I was known as the period of Personal Rule. `e How Did the War Start? The King Rules Without Parliament But didn’t King Charles I still need money? King Charles needed money but he had his own plans to make money without Parliament. His money came from: 1. Forced loans: If you were rich you had to lend the King money (which he wasn’t going to pay back). If you didn’t pay the King you might end up in prison. 2. Fines: The King fined many of the people who didn’t turn up when he was crowned King (his coronation). 3. Ship Tax: The King made people pay an old tax called ship tax. The money was supposed to go toward repairing war ships in the King’s navy and defending the coast against pirates and foreign invaders. But the King didn’t spend the money on ships. He tended to spend it on expensive art and paintings of himself. And how did people feel about all of this? Some people began to disagree with some of the King’s actions. Others would follow him anywhere. The country was slowly dividing into Roundheads and Cavaliers. But what finally pushed the country into civil war? Two things. Religion and Scotland. The King picks a fight with the Puritans The King wanted everybody to worship God the way he did. He wanted to unite his kingdom with one religion. He wanted every church to use the same Book of Common Prayer in their church services. King Charles put his top Bishop William Laud in charge of making sure that everyone worshipped God like the King. And did everyone do as they were told? Some people criticised William Laud in print. William Laud had three Puritan writers John Bastwicke, Henry Burton and William Prynne arrested, put on trial and horribly punished. What Happened to the three Puritans? They were locked in prison, fined lots of money and had their ears cut off, noses slit and faces branded with hot metal. Seriously? Yes, seriously. Actually, this kind of thing happened to poor people all the time in the seventeenth century but this was not usually the way gentlemen were treated. `e How Did the War Start? The King picks a fight with Scotland The Scots were serious Puritans or Presbyterians. The king wanted the Scottish church to worship God the same way they did in the Church of England. He made the Scots use the Book of Common Prayer. How did the Scots react? There were riots! When one priest tried to read from Laud’s prayer book in a church in Edinburgh, the congregation threw rocks at him. What did the king do? The King sent an English army into Scotland to force the Scots to worship God the way he wanted. Seriously? Yes. Seriously. The king went to war with Scotland. TWICE. And the two wars that followed led to the civil wars. What were these wars called? The two wars between England and Scotland were called The Bishop’s Wars. In 1639 the English invaded Scotland. The English did very badly and were chased out of Scotland by Scottish soldiers. The defeat was extremely embarrassing for the King. How did the King respond to being beaten? He decided to invade Scotland again. But he didn’t have enough money for a second war. The only way he could afford to invade Scotland was to ask Parliament for money. And so, after eleven years the King was forced to re-open Parliament. The Short Parliament Were Parliament happy to be called back after such a long time? They were angry. They were willing to give the King money for a second war but only if he listened to their complaints against him. They were annoyed about all the things the King had done to raise money during the last eleven years. Did the King listen to them? No! He was very angry. He shut Parliament almost as soon as it had opened, which is why this Parliament was called The Short Parliament. How short was the Short Parliament? It lasted only a few weeks. The King called Parliament back on April 13th 1640 and sent them away on May 5th. But didn’t the King still need money for his second war with Scotland? He did. He invaded Scotland for the second time in 1640. He invaded Scotland with little money and a weak army. This was called The Second Bishop’s War. What happened? Did he win this time? No! The King not only lost the war but the Scots invaded England. The Scots captured the city of Newcastle and refused to go back to Scotland until the English paid them a huge amount of money to go away. How much money? £300,000. (millions of pounds in today’s money!) `e How Did the War Start? The King’s Dilemma The King was in a very difficult position. He didn’t want the Scots in England but couldn’t afford to pay them to go away. Parliament was closed and only the King could open it. The King didn’t want to listen to their complaints. He certainly didn’t want to give any of his power to Parliament. But he really needed that money to make the Scots go away. So, what did the King do? On November 3rd 1641, the King re-opened Parliament. This parliament was called The Long Parliament because he never closed it! In fact, it stayed open until the year 1660. The Grand Remonstrance Parliament made their move. They presented a very long list of complaints against the King. They wanted the King to change his behaviour and give away a lot of his power. They wanted the changes to the King’s power to become law. The list of complaints was called The Grand Remonstrance. But Parliament were clever Parliament never directly criticised the King in their complaints. They were sneaky. They blamed everything they didn’t like about the King on his advisors and ministers and bishops. And were Parliament successful? Well, Parliament managed to turn The Grand Remonstrance into law. But it is important to say that not all of Parliament agreed with the Grand Remonstrance. There were quite a few supporters of the King in Parliament. But there were more who did not support him, and many of them were Puritans. So, the King listened to Parliament? Not really. He pretended to. He needed them to think he was listening to them. But all the while he was plotting and planning. The Five Members The king believed that five Members of Parliament were to blame for turning the rest of Parliament against him. The name of the five troublemakers were John Hampden, Denzil Hollies, William Strode, Arthur Haselrigg and John Pym. The King believed that if they were arrested the rest of Parliament would obey him. The King asked Parliament to give him these men. And did parliament obey the King? No. `e How Did the War Start? The King’s Unexpected Appearance The King arrived at the House of Commons with soldiers on January 4th 1642 to arrest the five members.