ENGLISH CIVIL WAR SOMA XLVI CRISIS COMMITTEE BACKGROUND GUIDE Keep your faith in God, but keep your powder dry. -Oliver Cromwell SOMA XLVI English Civil War Crisis Committee Background Guide⎟ 2 INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Southern Ontario Model United Nations Assembly’s English Civil War Historical Crisis. This war saw the revolutionary Long Parliament against the traditional royal government of the House of Stuart. At stake beyond the political and military struggle are the more far-reaching questions of governance and religion. We hope you are as excited for this year’s crisis as we are. For those of you unfamiliar with Crisis, this committee differs significantly from the other Model UN committees. Instead of representing countries, you represent people, each with your own individual agenda. We try to simulate every aspect of a historical conflict from the economics and politics to religion and military conquest. You will each play the role of someone who lived and held power on the eve of the Civil War, and will have a chance to reshape history. As your characters, you will manage taxes and trade, lead armies on campaigns and on the field of battle, and respond to envoys from Ireland, Scotland, and other foreign powers who will have their own interests in England. Above all, you will be trying to win the war while advancing your own standing as much as possible. This background guide is meant to provide a general overview of the war and its causes. It is meant to provide a starting point for your position paper research; however in order for your experience to be as fulfilling as it can be, it is necessary that you devote time and effort into conducting your own independent research for this Crisis. It is also highly recommended that you review the political structures of England during the early 17th century as well as the military technology and strategies in use at the time. We recommend that this research be used in your position papers. Lastly, it is recommended that all delegates read the entire background guide, and especially that they review the sections pertaining to Committee Structure and Procedure. We wish you the best of luck, Ernest Li Aakash Budhera Jerry Wang Sungmin Lee Crisis Director Crisis Head Jr. Crisis Head Jr. Crisis Head SOMA XLVI English Civil War Crisis Committee Background Guide⎟ 3 HISTORICAL CONTEXT The English Civil Wars were a series of battles between the King of England and his supporters (Royalists) and the forces of Parliament (Parliamentarians). A root to the conflict was the difference between constitutional monarchy and absolute rule. The concept of an English Parliament was introduced in 1215 upon the signing of the Magna Carta. Unlike modern parliaments today, at the time directly preceding the English Civil War, Parliaments were not permanent institutions, but convened under the king’s orders; generally, a main reason for the gathering of parliament was to approve the raising of taxes. A constitutional monarchy would have put most of the power in the hands of parliament instead of in the hands of the king. On the other hand, absolute rule would have given all of the power to the king. Naturally, Parliamentarians supported a constitutional monarchy while Royalists supported absolute rule. Additionally, the conflict had historical roots reaching back to Henry VIII and the split between the Catholic Church and the Church of England. RELIGIOUS TENSION In 1534, King Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church, forming the Protestant Church of England with the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury at the helm, instead of the Pope. In the 16th century, wars of religion were commonplace throughout Europe, pitting Catholics against Protestants. Although England was not involved in these wars, there was still a deep mistrust between English Catholics and English Protestants. At the time of the English Civil Wars, both England and Scotland were predominantly Protestant, however there was still a sizeable Catholic minority in both countries. Furthermore, the House of Commons contained a large number of Puritans, a sect of Protestantism that sought to cleanse the Anglican Church of all of its Catholic rituals. In 1534, King Henry VIII split from the Catholic Church, forming the Protestant Church of England with the King and the Archbishop of Canterbury at the helm, instead of the Pope. In the 16th century, wars of religion were commonplace throughout Europe, pitting Catholics against Protestants. Although England was not involved in these wars, there was still a deep mistrust between English Catholics and English Protestants. At the time of the English Civil Wars, both England and Scotland were predominantly Protestant, however there was still a sizeable Catholic minority in both countries. Furthermore, the House of Commons contained a large number of Puritans, a sect of Protestantism that sought to cleanse the Anglican Church of all of its Catholic rituals. SOMA XLVI English Civil War Crisis Committee Background Guide⎟ 4 THE BISHOP’S WARS The first Bishop’s War proved inconclusive and a settlement was quickly reached with the Covenanters. In return for the summon of a Scottish General Assembly as well as parliament, the Covenanters would return royalist castles and prisoners. However, the powers of the General Assembly were disagreed upon by the king and the rebels, especially over religious power. Naturally, the Scots ignored the religious demands of Charles I upon the cessation of conflict. Tensions soon flared once more and Charles I began raising a new army to lead into Scotland. To raise money for the Bishop’s Wars, Charles I called the “Short Parliament” after 11 years of direct rule over England. Instead of immediately granting funding for Charles’ war through new taxes, Parliament posed grievances to unpopular royal policies, such as “ship money”, a tax levied on the gentry to pay for the English fleet as well as the increase in customs duties. Additionally, Parliament looked towards completely changing the structure of the Anglican Church. Seeing that money would not be quickly raised, Charles I became infuriated with Parliament; the name “Short Parliament” was derived from the fact that Charles I dissolved it after only three weeks. Under the guidance of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, a new army was raised and equipped to launch a campaign into Scotland. It is important to note that many Englishmen, once again, did not support the war effort. Unlike the first Bishop’s War, the Second Bishop’s War had a clear victor. The Covenanters repulsed the English attack and launched their own counterattack, conquering several Northern counties of England. A short term ceasefire was brokered out between the Covenanters and the English. Under the conditions of the agreement, the Covenanters were allowed to remain in the counties that they have conquered and were to be paid £850 a day until a real peace was negotiated. THE BIRTH OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT The immense burden on the English taxpayer, who had to fund the payments to the Covenanters, forced Parliament to be reconvened. Furthermore, negotiating with the Covenanters and establishing a long lasting peace treaty took a significant amount of time, thus the Parliament could not have been dismissed in a short period. As such, this Parliament came to be known as the “Long Parliament.” The Long Parliament was composed of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. In the first year of the Long Parliament, many acts were passed to repeal Charles’ most SOMA XLVI English Civil War Crisis Committee Background Guide⎟ 5 unpopular policies. Interestingly, under the orders of Parliament, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford and one of Charles’ right-hand men, was also executed for high treason. Within the first year, divisions in the Long Parliament were also beginning to show. It was quite clear by that point that some members of Parliament still supported the king. THE IRISH REBELLION In October 1641, the kingdom of Ireland, commonly seen as a sister kingdom to England, rebelled against its English administrators. The King and the Long Parliament argued over who would command the army sent to quell the rebellion. Eventually, parliament passed the Grand Remonstrance, a biting list of grievances against Charles I and solutions to those grievances, by a narrow margin (159-148). Some of those solutions included anti-Catholic Church reform and parliamentary appointment of the royal ministers. Soon after, parliament also passed the Militia Ordinance, which granted parliamentary control of the appointment of all of England’s army and navy commanders. As expected, Charles I refused to accept the Grand Remonstrance or give royal assent to the Militia Ordinance. Violence in the streets of London and rumours of a plot to remove his wife and pushed Charles I to arrest five members of the House of Commons and one Lord on counts of treason: John Hampden, Arthur Haselrig, Denzil Holles, John Pym, William Strode, and Viscount Mandeville. On January 4, 1642, Charles I entered the House of Commons, an action forbidden to the king, with a group of armed soldiers to arrest the men. But, the six men had been tipped off and had already fled. The city of London erupted into chaos after learning the news and was openly hostile to the king. On January 10, 1642, Charles I fled the capital for the north of England and the Royalists and Parliamentarians prepared for civil war. ECONOMY Before the English Civil War, the English economy was in a constant stagnation and experiencing social unrests. The enrichment of bourgeoisie and capitalist thoughts shook the country as it led to unemployment and fluctuations in the market. During the war, the nation suffered from further recessions because of the sharp commercial contractions.