chap 3 1640-42

Question 1

political nation - short parliament

Answer 1

• without access to money to fight scots, wentworth advised king to recall parliament
• began 13 april 1640
• king said parliament needed to grant subsidies then he would listen to grievances
• charles thought that the prospect of french forces interfering would push parliament to support him
• despite this parliament dissolved 5 maay with no subsidies/grievances discussed
• dissolved because: charles believed he could still get money from pope/spaish king, strafford suggest using irish army to put down covenanters, may didn’t trust king to keep his word once subsidies given

Question 2

political nation - long parliament

Answer 2

• events in scotland called for this recall november 1640
• treaty of ripon ended second bishops war contained 2 specific clauses: king had to recall parliament & couldn’t dissolve it till it voted the subsidies that would enable scotts to be paid off and thus withdraw
• charles politically, financially and militarily weak
• parliament recalled 3 november 1640
• not formally ended till 1640

Question 3

political nation - charles’ strengths

Answer 3

• SUPPORT IN LORDS: despite fustrations, natural allegiance of lords rested with king
• COMMAND OF ARMY: charles could deploy army at will and his authority wasn’t challenged among his commanders
• CENSORSHIP OF PRESS: retained command over what could be published and able to exert pressure on those who offended him
• RESOURCES OF 3 KINGDOMS: king of ireland, scotland and england so had access to resources from 3 sovereign states

Question 4

political nation - weakness of charles

Answer 4

• most of his strengths were structural as they came with his position as monarch
• weaknesses broadly came from his words and actions
• couldn’t handle debate and dispute
• still reliant on the good will officers of local gov to enforce his commands
• group of 12 leading peers including earl of bedford and warwick petitioned charles in august 1640 & asserted that they woukdn’t co-operate with him unless he called a new parliament (petition of 12 peers)

Question 5

political nation - parliament strengths

Answer 5

• UNITY OF PURPOSE: majority of commons/lords united in their goals they shared in opposition to the king, to remedy the abuses of personal rule
• QUALITY OF INTELLECT: hampden was a lawyer, pym was active in parliament
• POLITICIAL SUPPORT FROM LONDONERS: 15000 signatures appended root and branch petition gave some indication of extent to which londoners vocal in their demands that parliament should push through significiant reforms

Question 6

political nation - weaknesses of parliament

Answer 6

• BRIDGE APPOINTMENTS: earl of bedford proposed these which would provide charles a workable financial settlement & in return would hold regular parliaments and rid most hated parts of personal rule but laud/strafford would lose their roles and be replaced by men like pym/bedford (parliament closely involved with king’s finances) but scheme collapsed because bedford working with scottish covenanters so they could work on a good settlement for both scots and king leading to plan unravelling then he died
• INITIATIVE IN COMMONS: after collapse of bedford’s scheme reform firmly shifted to the commons with attention focused on pym as leader of a significant group within parliament, he was liked by many but also not liked by some
• TEN PROPOSITIONS: kenyon refers to this as confused and rambling, was a list of suggestions brought by pym before parliament on 24 june and outlined how settlement might be achieved with the king & it was very general but terms would’ve dramatically limited the king’s power (disbandment of army in north, oversight into queen’s household, parliament control over education of charles’ children) but events moved n before committees assigned could report back

Question 7

political nation - parliament weaknesses root and branch debates

Answer 7

CONTEXT:
- in just 3 days pym presented a petition to release burton & bastwick from prison & introduced a measure intended to have catholics removed from londond
CONTENT:
- was meant to ‘root out episcopacy, root and branch’ by abolishing the offices of arch bishop and bishop
ARGUMWNT:
- many mps wanted to remove laud’s influence from church some just wanted to return church to pre-laudian states, shelved august 1641

Question 8

parliamentary radicalism - pym’s personaliy

Answer 8

• serious way of expressing himself
• straightforward
• the extent to which his speechmaking was effective has been challenged atrributing his political success to skill behind scene
• pym shaped work of commons between 16040-43 more than any other in that time

Question 9

parliamentary radicalism - pym’s aim

Answer 9

• was active parliamentarian he wasn’t inherently revolutionary
• in 1620s he recognised the need to sort out king’s finances & now picked up again in long parliament
• as lawyer feared that the king was trying to undermine the english legal system
• was puritan & anti-catholic but didn’t want to create a seperate puritan church just wanted it restored to pre-laudian ways

Question 10

parliamentary radicalism - army plot

Answer 10

• rumours spread that charles was planning to use force to make parliament reverse its legislation
• 19 april 1641 news emerged that charles ordered all his army officers to return to their commands with the english army in north
• pym broke this news to parliament in early may triggering intense debate that reflected high tension felt by many parliamentarians
• remous quickly started that once army has reunited then they’d march to london to free strafford & laud
• much of this plot was hearsay charles did send troop of loyal soldiers to tower suggesting some truth to remours
• strafford remained in prison and deatils of plot exposed
• rumours queen was negotiating with catholic powers to bring over foreign troops which opened a new level of scrutiny of the queen & her court
• revealing of difficulty charles was in as to not deploy his army (a key strength) would take a great deal of confidence in own ability to hand;e negotiations

Question 11

parliamentary radicalism - significance of may 1641

Answer 11

• pym able to use army plot to push the commons into a new burst of activity
• protestation oath issued on 6 may
• act against dissolution of parliament without its own consent passed on 10 may
• parliament stepped up its efforts against strafford leading to his execution on 12 may

Question 12

parliamentary radicalism - protestation oath

Answer 12

• in july 1641 under immense pressure charles gave his royal assent to the oath: responsibility for enforcing it fell to justices of the peace
• initially intended for office holders but in 1642 encompassed all adult males in england and wales
• many communities, congregations assembled to take oath together
• occasions not always peaceful
• played crucial role in spreading the debate raging across london across whole country

Question 13

pym & parliamentary radicalism - content of grand remonstrance

Answer 13

• in parliamentary recess from 9 september to 20 october, pym took command of recess committee that work on shaping policy to introduce in autumn session
• worked on a grand remonstrance
• contained an overview of charles’ reign & blamed evil advisors, corrup bishops and papists for present troubles and presented demands for constitutional change
• parliament to have more influence over selection of appointments of royal officers & lords to be cleared of bishops and catholic peers
• shifted focus from removing sources of ‘mischief’ to a programme set on limiting king’s power

Question 14

pym & parliamentary radicalism - pym’s miscalculation

Answer 14

• recess committee put forward the remonstrance as a whole & mps given choice to reject or accept
• supporting it meant accepting its most radical clauses whilst rejecting it implied a demonstration of support for king
• remonstrance passed with only 159 votes to 148 showing a real division in commons
• pym decided not to push it onto house of lords
• huge debate started in commons over whether to publish it but went ahead anyway

Question 15

pym & parliamentary radicalism - tradition & new force in politics

Answer 15

• open criticism of king seen as dangerous, likely to stir up rebellion & avoided
• publishing remonstrance would destabilise political order of the country
• at same time there was a growing awareness of potential power of london mob to push through a more radical agenda

Question 16

pym & parliamentary radicalism - london mob

Answer 16

• puritan sentiment already begun radicalisng under pressure of laudianism
• was to radicalise further in 1640s as charles lost control over censorship and press
• pamphlets flooded streets stimulating political conversation as never before
• parliament begain to actively harness the mob to increase pressure on king
• mobilised in support of religious reform

Question 17

pym & parliamentary radicalism - popular radicalism

Answer 17

• riot broke out in st thomas the apostle after the oath wasn’t the only as similar were seen elsewhere like st olave’s
• rails pulled down & burned, priests threatened with bodily harm
• reports came from across the country of services being disrupted by protesters able to vent their fury over laudian prayed book

Question 18

conflicts between crown & parliament - bedford’s bridge appointment scheme

Answer 18

• for charles this was the only form of settlement presented that fit in line with his view of kingship as represented no fundamental change to system of gov
• simply a ‘bridge’ between crown & gov
• woudl’ve resolved charles’ financial situation reducing listening to grievances before supply of money situation
• bedford’s death meant another opportunity at settlement lost

Question 19

conflicts between crown & parliament - settlement in scotland: cumbernauld band

Answer 19

• august 1640 group of 18 scottish nobles led by earl of montrose signed agreement called cumbernauld band which expressed their loyalty to king & desire to defend his authority
• had been alarmed by development of radicalism within the ranks of covenanters as felt were being pushed too far into outright rebellion

Question 20

conflicts between crown & parliament - settlement in scotland: connections between scotland & england

Answer 20

• after bishops’ wars, scottish parliament sent representatives down to westminister to liaise with english parliament over matters of concern to both kingdoms
• bailie & 2 other clergy accompanied the commissioners to answer any questions arose about presbyterian church gov established by 1638 glasgow assembly
• bailie found parliament already attacking episcopacy and keen to negotiate with covenanters
• spring 1641 long parliament in in full flow & less reliant on political/military support from scotland
• cost of paying for scottish soldiers to be billeted in north starting to outweigh need to put pressure on king as whilst agreed they should be paid, bill fell on parliament
• scotland beginning to stabilise when clear that charles was not going to take military action

Question 21

conflicts between crown & parliament - incident of october 1641

Answer 21

• august 1641 king travelled up to scotland which was agreed in treaty of ripon
• hoped to win political support & gain agreement to remove rest of army from england
• started well, making concessions to covenanters, meeting scottish parliament, talks with general leslie
• commons anxious of what charles might achieve so parliamentary committee of defence decided to send their own commissioners to keep an eye on him
• charles wrecked own strategy as was also at the same time plotting to remove most radical covenanters through military action led by earl of crawford.montrose
• became known when charles attended edinburgh parliament on 12 october with an armed force but plot been leaked by a conspirator & targets escaped
• important as proved charles couldn’t be trusted

Question 22

conflicts between crown & parliament - trial of strafford: background

Answer 22

• strafford & laud impeached in dec 1640 & imprisoned in tower of london
• needed to be removed from political scene to rebuild relationship between king & country
• while laud left in tower till 1645 execution, strafford became face in which all blame of personal rule was hung
• feared what he may do now he was back in england from ireland - he’d beaten irish parliament into submission & reformed irish army for charles

Question 23

conflicts between crown & parliament - trial of strafford: the trial

Answer 23

• held before parliament & began 1641
• prosecution case was that strafford tried to establish ‘arbitrary government’ in a number of ways that amounted to treason
• prosecution weak as:
  - strafford able to defend himself effectively against individual charges as said he was following king’s command
  - acts like bringing jps into line & tackling tax/corruption easily portrayed as good
  - some charges easily flawed - a key prosecution point was strafford intended to commit treason in future by bringing irish army into england for charles to use to restore order by force
• 12 april made closing statements where strafford said long list of charges couldn’t add up to treason
• pym couldn’t make an attack that would stick

Question 24

conflicts between crown & parliament - trial of strafford: bill of attaindar

Answer 24

• pym changed his tactics
• brought impeachment to a halt & drew up bill of attaindar to use against strafford
• with this, lords can agree the accused is a traitor without legal proof
• brought king into direct involvement & made it test of goodwil toward parliament
• went through with 204 votes for & 59 against
• early of bedford & holles reluctant to agree
• spurred on by anxiety of army plot lords passed bill & despite promise to keep strafford safe charles gave his assent
• ended possibility of compromise based on trust/goodwill between king & parliament

Question 25

slide into war - impact of events in ireland

Answer 25

• ireland strongly catholic & source of anxiety who feared may be used as part of invasion plan to overthrow their rule & install catholic monarchy
• elizabeth i began policy where protestants sent to settle in ulster
• plan accelerated under james i who also encouraged scottish settlers to move to ireland
• settlers intended to provide poltical balance to catholics in irish parliament/military counterbalance to catholics in irish army & given land ‘plantations’ taken from catholic landowners
• small & powerful group of irish catholic noblemen like phelim o’neill watching events in scotland with interest & from feb 1641rumours of plotting emerged
• rumours aimed at overthrowing ulster plantations & re-asserting catholic noble authority within king’s irish realm
• 22 oct rebels took control of key strongholds, actions coincided with a massive uprising against protestant settlers in ulster resulting in bloodbath that would spread to entire country

Question 26

slide into war - reasons for irish rebellion

Answer 26

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
- wentworth’s recall to england in 1639 created power vacuum in irish gov
- catholic noblemen behind 1641 plot wanted to lead programme of constitutinal reform that would give similar settlement to that achieved by scots 1638-41 but with strong catholic favour
- parliament already begun a plan of managing ireland from westminister to renew plantation policy wentworth begun to revive
VENGENCE:
- catholics whose families had been evicted by ultser plantation settlers decided to take revenge and rose up, given additional military support by soldiers returning from 30yrs war

Question 27

slide into war - significance of irish rebellion

Answer 27

• reports of irish rebellion radicalised long parliament because of their intene fear of catholicism
• parliament faced difficult issue of wanting to deploy an army to quash violence but didn’t know if charles could be trusted to lead it
• phelim claimed king ordered him to rebel to strike a blow at parliament
• early nov, pym introduced ‘additional instruction’ stating that commons would help raise an army to subdue ireland if king agreed he should appoint only councillors approved by parliament
• vote close with 151 for and 110 against

Question 28

slide into war - militia bill

Answer 28

• 7 dec 1641 haselrig introduced militia bill
• was radical step forward as removed king’s power to summon the militia & gave parliament power to appoint army commanders
• charles clear how presumpuous parliament had become
• debates over bill so heated/extensive they dragged on into february by which time events intensified further

Question 29

slide into war - failed arrest of five members (impeachment proceedings)

Answer 29

• 29 dec lords accepted a commons vote of impeachment against the bishops
• would lead to their exclusion from lords & weaken a source of support for charles in upper chamber
• 3jan 1642 charles issued own impeachment proceddings for treason against 6 factious spirits (hampden, holles, haselrig, strode, montagu)
• 4 jan charles assembled 500 soldiers & accompanied by his brother in law (frederick) marched from whitehall to westminister
• left armed guard at door but in display of defiance entered the commons
• 5 commons members warned & fled to safety

Question 30

slide into war - failed arrest of five members (aftermath)

Answer 30

• london mob surged onto streets in protest to king’s actions
• charles escorted to safety by lord mayor & others but were also attacked on way home
• within hour, city ready to defend itself - gates shut and women built barricades across streets with stools/tubs
• several thousand men assembled in buckinghamshire ready to march to london to support hampden
• by showing he was prepared to use force & disregard parliament’s legitimate privilege charles demonstrated absolutist tendancies
• even moderate royalists shaken & new flurry of legislation followed including exclusion bill 5 feb 1642 which removed bishops from lords & mmilitia ordinance which would give authority to appoint lord lieutenants/deputies to parliament

Question 31

slide into war - local grievances (religion)

Answer 31

• easiest predictor of someone’s allegiance was their religion
• all parliamentary leaders & half of parliamentarians were strong puritans whilst 1/3 of royalist gentry were catholic
• catholics only support king, puritans would support parliament whilse those of more moderate protestant persuasion are more difficult to readily categorise

Question 32

slide into war - local grievances (geography)

Answer 32

• connected with religious faith, different regions were more likely to support one side or another
• puritanism strongest in south & east of england (london) but also in bigger regional cities like manchester
• lancashire gentry tended towards moderation in religion & royalism in politics
• king based his court in york & north/west tended toward royalism

Question 33

slide into war - local grievances (employment)

Answer 33

• some context people’s employment decided their allegiance
• in gloucester city corporation agreed to support parliament on behalf of all its members
• local gentry insisted that their tenant farmers fought in royalist militia under threat of eviction
• independent traders had more freedom to decide who to support whilst those tied to local employment had to follow lead of others

Question 34

slide into war - local grievances (individual rivalries/leadership)

Answer 34

• john hotham had been pushed out of local power by rise of wentworth family & aligned himself with parliamentarians in response
• he switched to royalist in 1643 when he found himself out of favour with the rise of fairfax family
• some regions were mobilised for one or other sides by force of character and skill of key local figures
• in east anglian counties, royalist gentry proved unable to resist mobilisation of ordinary people by their mp oliver cromwell

Question 35

slide into war - local grievances (neutralism)

Answer 35

• choosing to take neither side also rose as growing force during 1642 & probably natural choice of majority
• often the case that those on the extremes make most noice but most people found themselves forced to make a decision for king or parliament they didn’t want to make

Question 36

slide into war - reasons to support the king (fear of disorder)

Answer 36

• for some the prospect of civic, religious/political disorder was entirely terrifying & triggered a reaction for king as pinnacle of order and stability
• for number of reasons there was a slight peak of popular disorder in the early 1640s that looked to some as though ordered society was disintergrating

Question 37

slide into war - reasons to support king (constitutional royalism)

Answer 37

• breakdown of unity revealed by fierce debate over grand remonstrance is good indicator of how parliamentary consensus was stable while attacking abused of personal rule but crumbled as radical ideas on what to do next began to predominate
• narrow margin of commons vote on remonstrance defintiely exposed savele of this group & its general position was defined by king’s response to remonstrance
• turned it on its head by saying that the removal of bishops from lords was removing their right to vote which is fundamental principles of parliament
• emergent ideology known as constitutional royalism reflecting support for the institution of the monarchy providing it stayed within bounds of tradition and common practise
• gathered greater momentum as opposition groups in parliament became increasingly radical

Question 38

slide into war - reasons to support king (religious moderation)

Answer 38

• considerably greater uniformity among religious faith & practise on the parliamentarian than the royalist side
• catholics as well as laudians would naturally find themselves on king’s side but many more moderate anglicans did as well
• because religion was so divisive that pym delayed debate over root & branch bill in 1641 & it explains why charles was so keen to emphasise the conservative nature of his religious policy against ‘the unholy ideas of those who would like to break the church apart’

Question 39

slide into war - failure of negotiations between king & parliament

Answer 39

• parliament last effort to contain the king came in form of 19 propositions of june 1642
• were radical & impossible for king to approve
• included:
  - parliament should give its assent to all key royal appointments
  - parliament take on responsibility for educating royal children & arrange their marriages
  - new stronger anti-catholic legislation
  - 5 members cleared of all charges
  - king approve militia ordiance and drop his use of commissions
• king obviously rejected these

Question 40

slide into war - military prep for war

Answer 40

• passage of militia ordinance in march opened up period of 5m where parliament & king struggled over military command
• from dutch republic henrietta not terribly successful
• by may both sides began to issue orders for local gentry to raise militia
• in june, parliament issued formal order to raise militia which king blocked by using a prerogative means (commission of array)
• 12 july parliament passed a resolution to raise a full army under command of earl of essex
• 22 aug king raised his standard in nottingham, summoning all loyal english men & women to his cause
• war had begun