This text examines hidden factors that led to the English Civil war of 1642 to 1648 and how a king lost his head on the scaffold
There had been a series of Civil conflicts raging for almost 700 years, prior to the outbreak of the Englishman's rebellion as the war became known.
including the spectacular wars of the roses, the feudal conflicts of the Norman barons and the subjugation of the Welsh and Irish Minorities. In themselves, those conflicts, though equally bloody in the main, were spread over a longer period of time, and were largely 'A' political, in that non sought to challenge the authority of the sovereign to any great extent. They were in effect a series of conflicts amongst what were essentially brutal warlords, seeking to ally themselves, and achieve favours of the Sovereign, or to consolidate their own particular power base.
The roots of the civil war however, were for all practical purposes partly religious, and the cradle of the war lay in the bed chamber of Henry the V111 some 150 years earlier.
Henry the Eighths first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and except for Catherine Parr, the wife that survived him, married to him the longest, was unable after many tries to give him a male heir. In simple terms, Henry began an Affair, with Anne Boleyn, and sought to have his marriage to Catherine annulled for lack of conjugal enjoyment.
The church in the guise of the Roman catholic Church, refused to give him the right to annul or even divorce Catherine, so Henry, quite simply declared , that England was no longer a Catholic country. That he was to be the defender of the faith, a representative of God on earth, and the Church of England, the Anglican Church was formed.
From that day forth, the Catholic religion, was denigrated by the sovereign Monarchs henceforth. Although Mary, Henry's eldest daughter who later became queen Mary, ' bloody Mary', for her persecution of the protestant religion, did rule as a Catholic monarch, she was the very last Catholic Monarch of England.
When Charles the first came to the throne in succession to his father James the first, there had already been a serious blood letting of Catholic faithful following the Gunpowder plot and Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up the houses of Parliament.
James however, in an act of reconciliation, after the coup allowed Catholics to follow their religion openly and freely, and even made it illegal for there to be any persecution of any religion belief.
Therefore, when Charles succeeded to the throne in 1625, he found a country, that was largely free of religious intolerance. He intended for it to remain that way.
He was however strongly aware, as was his father, in the 'Divine right of Kings' to do as they wish. It would lead to his downfall.
Since he was the defender of the faith, and gods representative on earth, he had no choice but to enact the ordained tradgedy. Neither in court, nor in his bed chamber were his personal private inclinations allowed to stay his hand . His wife, Henrietta, was very beautiful, very dominant, and a devout catholic.
She enjoyed the full support in her religious leanings of a King who adored her, and one always prepared to let her have her own way. His complete adoration of his queen, was to lead him ultimately to the scaffold.
As Gods representative on earth, he believed he could do no wrong. He was supported openly and vociferously in this belief by his Queen, who constantly entreated him to support the glorification of the High Church in England. A church that had all the trappings of the very devout catholic church.
Such a stance, led to a suspicion amongst the leaders in Parliament and to the very influential Protestant Church, that the queen's influence would eventually lead to an ascendancy of the Catholic church again and possibly to a Catholic monarch.
Queen Henrietta did nothing to quell this fear. Rather, openly, in front of influential members of parliament, who in themselves held parliament and the protestant church sacred to what was an unwritten constitution, she flaunted her opinions and influence in the Kings decision making process.
The hard liners, the hawks, the social, constitutional reformers, took note, and let their hatred of the queen fester. That festering would lead eventually to a rift with the King.
Charles himself was his own worst enemy and did nothing to endear himself to the common people. He believed as I have already intimated, that he God's representative on earth. As such he could do no wrong. His reign therefore, was that of an autocratic despot.
Politically, he was inept, and took the country into a series of expensive military campaigns, that drained the exchequer deposits of the country. To replenish them, he needed to go to parliament and ask them to enact certain forms of taxation. Only parliament could give the authority for taxation, at the behest of the Sovereign. Once that taxation had been enacted, the King would dissolve parliament, again, and only call it when he needed more taxation.
He was encouraged in this autocratic rule by his wife, the very beautiful if well opinionated Henrietta. Thus, in 1629, having the previous year had to agree to the 'Petition of rights' which outlawed the raising of taxes, without the express permission of parliament, he dissolved parliament once more and continued his autocratic rule for a further eleven years.
During that time, his bailiffs, collected all non legal taxes, including A Ship Tax on all ports and inland towns, ostensibly to pay for ships for the navy, but in reality, to fill the coffers of the Royal treasury, which in turn, provided for his Queen's lavish life style.
Any person, often the week and poor who refused to pay the illegal tithes, were put to the sword, and their limbs amputated by Royal proclamation. Charles the first, thus became known as the 'man of blood'
Viz: In a comment on the Battle of Naseby during the war we hear the rhyme,
'Twas a glorious day in June,
When we saw their banners shine,
And the 'man of blood' was there,
With his long incessant hair, and,
There was Astley and Sir Marmaduke,
And Rupert of the Rhine.
In 1642, Charles, could no longer continue his illegal tax gathering, much to the annoyance of his wife, and was forced to call Parliament together again to enact more legal Taxation measures.
Parliament refused, under the express influence of John Pym, MP for Devizes, Oliver Cromwell, MP for Huntingdon, John Ireton, from Bristol, and Cromwell's brother in law, and Lord Fairfax, an ardent Royalist, but an even more ardent supporter of the principle of the power of parliament over the Sovereign.
The King, having been refused, and under the influence of his wife, decided to take troops to parliament and to arrest the 'trouble makers' . They had of course, had full warning of this, and had disappeared, all of them except Cromwell, who challenged the Authority of the King in open Session.
In a majority vote, Parliament supported Cromwell, and the King was forced to withdraw. The country was now at Civil War, a war that became known as the Kings war, since not many of his subjects wanted him to go this far.
The country was split straight down the middle, family against family, sisters and brothers against their own siblings. Thus it became a populace war.
At the star of the war, the protagonists forces were largely made up off common folk, called from the plough.
It is well to remember, that in those days, parliamentary suffrage, was not universal. Most of the members of parliament, were in fact the large landowners. Thus, on both sides, the armies were made up of battalions of men who worked on the land and estates belonging to those landowners.
Thus when hostilities opened, at Edge Hill in Warwickshire on 23rd of October 1642, the armies, were approximately the same size. The Royalists however were commanded by soldiers, with recent military campaign experience. The Parliamentarians by contrast being a collection of good hearted, but inexperienced
God fearing men called to the cause.
Neither side won the day, but Oliver Cromwell, saw the short comings in his untrained infantry, and after the battle set about training a parliamentary army, that could match any, such that within two years, he had formed England's first professional army, Known as the New Model Army. It was this consolidation of his forces into a highly trained fighting unit, that ultimately won the day.
The battles of the Civil war, are important in themselves, in any examination of the social nuances that influenced the war, and are the subject of a separate initiative. Suffice to say however, that by 2nd July 1644, The Royalists, had fought themselves to a standstill, and were confined to a series of heavily defended garrisons in the North country, around York. During the ensuing 12 to 18 months, the King had moved to Oxford and set up court there after being driven from London.
In manoeuvre designed to capture Oxford, The parliamentarians drove two forked attacks towards Oxford. One from the West under the command of General Ire ton, and the other from the East under Cromwell.
The armies met twice, at Newbury, each battle exactly 12 months apart.
On each occasion, the town was heavily defended, but the first battle, a series of quite bloodily fought skirmishes, gave the parliamentary army, the chance to see the lie of the land, and what were the strategic points.
During the second battle , again, Ireton attacked from the West, having secured Bristol. Cromwell came from the East and was held up at a point to the South East of Newbury subsequently Known as Wash common.
It was the scene of a particularly bloody encounter with severe hand to hand fighting, such that the land became awash with the blood of men and horses, hence the name Wash Common.
Cromwell prevailed on this salient, and was able to give Ireton supporting artilliary fire for his assault on the strategic prize to the North west of the Town, the heavily defended Donnington Castle. It was the one position, that prevented a successful advance on Oxford. Cromwell had to prevail here if the war was to be advanced.
Parliamentary artillery bombarded the castle for 10 days and nights, a continuous barrage. At the end of which, the only part of the castle left standing was the gate house tower. What was left of the defending forces, were all crowded into the tower, and upon the final surrender, Cromwell signed an order granting the defenders free passage, provided they laid down their arms and gave their feilty not to take up arms again for the duration of the war.
An interesting fact, up until the battle of the Somme, the bombardment of Donnington castle was the longest continuous artillery barrage in British History.
The siege on the Somme, outdid it by one day.
Ther parliamentarians victory at Newbury, opened the way to Oxford, and the King was forced to retreat North again to escape capture.
It is a significant fact, that just as Confederate forces, in the American Civil war never saw ascendancy again, following the Battle of Gettysburg, so too did Royalist forces never see ascendancy again following the Battle of Newbury.
King Charles settled his army around York, and a state of 'phony war' prevailed for a few months.
Then on 2nd July 1644, the battle of Marston Moor near York took place. The Royalists, were defeated by a much Superior Parliamentary Army. The North was lost, and for a few Months, the Royalists were reduced to defending a small number of beleaguered Garrisons to the North of York itself.
The end was near.
Prince Rupert, the Kings cousin, and a brilliant cavalry tactician was also soundly beaten by what he had previously thought a rabble.
During the following months, parliament organised it's new model Army under protestant influence. This produced a disciplined regimented fighting force under overall control of Oliver Cromwell.
His brother in law John Ireton, became second in command, and he demanded from each soldier absolute loyalty to Cromwell and parliament. It was this demand of loyalty which would ultimately demonstrate the dominance of Cromwell as a leader.
During that period, such was the influence of the Puritan code, that a number of conscripts, men from the plough, took it upon themselves to draw up a series of demands, a sort of bill of rights for the common man, which in essence demanded, that after the war, every man should take an equal share of the wealth of the nation. Every man and woman, should start off at the same level, whatever their previous station in life.
They became known as the ' levellers' because of this principle. I guess, they were, the first 'communists'.
They formulated a plan, which in essence placed demands on Cromwell and parliament, and openly mutinied in early 1645. Ireton, in a guise of listening to their demands, called for them to meet him, to discuss matters. When they arrived at his head quarters, he had them arrested, for mutiny, summarily tried them for treason, and executed them the very next morning.
Thus, the initial rumblings of disquiet, at the likely lot of the common man following the war, was snuffed out. The principle of 'levelling' however, was set aside, but not squashed.
On 14th June, 1645, there took place, what was effectively the deciding battle of the Civil war. At Naseby. The Royalists were crushed, and on 26th of March 1646, following a short battle at Stowe in the Wold, the King surrendered to Parliament.
The first stage Civil war was effectively at an end.
Charles was imprisoned on the Isle of White, and took part in a series of meetings with Cromwell and the leaders of Parliament, which discussed in essence, his retention of the Crown, but as a constitutional monarch under which he would have the power to dissolve parliament only if requested to do so by parliament itself. Essentially, he would keep all the trappings in keeping with his station in life, but would become a 'figure head' monarch.
Under the strong influence of his queen, he refused to council such a move. Cromwell entreated him to reconsider , since the leader of the army realised the country needed a King. Charles again refused and his imprisonment continued.
He eventually managed to escape, and the second phase of the war was about to begin.
Charles, enlisted the aid of the Presbyterian movement in Scotland, and on the promise of favour to that religion, if he were put back on the throne, the Scots decided to ally with him, and advanced South. They were repelled however on 17th to the 19th of August 1648 at the battle of Preston, and The king was again on the run, a fugitive in his own land.
His son, the Prince of Wales, and who some 12 years later would be restored to the throne as Charles the second, in what is known as Restoration England, a time of good king Charles, fought a rear guard campaign in 1648 to keep the idea of Monarchy alive.
Like his father, he was pursued relentlessly by the parliamentary army, and eventually was besieged in the City of Worcester.
Worcester, was a strongly Royalist City, right to the end. For that it is known in the UK as the faithful City. Its motto Semper Fidia, Ever faithful, remains to this day.
It is a sad fact, that most of the Royalist soldiers at the Battle of Worcester, the last real battle of the Civil war, were mostly Irish mercenaries, drawn to the Royalist cause for fear of Catholic persecution under Cromwell.
The battle lost, the kings son, as heir to the throne escaped to France, where he would live to fight another day. The war was effectively over, the persecution of the King about to begin.
He was recaptured, put on trial in January 1649, for treason against the state and the common folk.
Charles refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the court to 'Judge a King', but after due process, he was found guilty and imprisoned again, awaiting sentence.
The sentencing was ordered by parliament, and Cromwell himself, Fairfax and Ireton were the only members of the sentencing committee who did not favour the death sentence.
Cromwell, was asked to entreat with the King again to accept a compromise. Charles, again refused, with the complete compliance and influence of the queen.
She subsequently left for France on Charles insistence, and he was on his own.
The death warrant was drawn up, Cromwell the first to sign. He himself took the warrant to each of the 12 men around the table, and stood whilst they signed.
Fairfax, one of the original parliamentarians to challenge the King, refused at first. Cromwell however thrust the pen into his hand and ordered him to sign. Fairfax complied, and the King was sentenced to death by decapitation.
His execution took place on 30th January 1649, a bitterly cold day. Just prior to the fatal minute, Charles, asked for a warm shirt, since he was afraid he might shiver in the cold. He did not want his subjects to believe he was frightened of death.
As to the movement known as the 'levellers', what remained of their leaders, were also arrested in 1649, put on trial for treason found guilty and executed. The njoly movement to challenge the supremacy of parliament, was smashed.
Cromwell, was offered the monarchy, by his deluded comrades, and laughed in their faces. He set up a number of doomed parliaments, which because of the infighting amongst the protagonists within the chamber turned into an assembly of the rabble.
Cromwell eventually lost patience, with them, took the army to parliament, and unilaterally dissolved it. As the members left the chamber, Fairfax stopped as he passed Cromwell and uttered to his face the famous words,
'I seem to recall, that we executed a King for such as this'
Cromwell did not answer.
He ruled England for almost ten years as Lord Protector, during which time because of his largely religious tolerance, the Irish catholics would disagree, he ruled by popular consent. His tenure of the 'Commonwealth' dictatorship was a successful one, and it was a time, when England grew stronger, with more influence in foreign matters, than at any time in it's History. He created the model for many Universities, Oxford and Cambridge amongst them, and we prospered as a nation.
He died in 1658, and his son Richard took over. The nation however had grown tired of the strict religious fervour of the Puritan church, and wanted to laugh and have fun again.
By popular demand, Richard Cromwell's' tenure was dissolved, and the absent heir to the throne living in France, was asked to return and be Monarch.
The monarchy was restored in 1660 and Charles the second was King.
One of his first acts as King, was an act of Retribution for for the execution of his father.
He ordered, that Cromwell's body be resurrected from the grave, that it be taken to a lawful place of execution and beheaded.
Cromwell's head was stuck on a stake, and displayed until it rotted on tower bridge. The corpse was reburied in un consecrated ground. One of the bloodiest periods of English history was at an end.
Today, the site of Cromwell's grave, is a public sewer.
The morale of the story for all men?
Never lose your head over a beautiful woman.
Words by lastromantichero
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Written on 2006-08-23 at 20:01
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The Origins of the English Civil War by M.A.Meddings
For many observers, the English civil war of 1642 to 1648, was a matter of supremacy of Parliamentary authority over that of the Sovereign, and so essentially it became. It was, unlike all the previous civil wars, in the land, a matter of popular democracy over the absolute power of the throne.There had been a series of Civil conflicts raging for almost 700 years, prior to the outbreak of the Englishman's rebellion as the war became known.
including the spectacular wars of the roses, the feudal conflicts of the Norman barons and the subjugation of the Welsh and Irish Minorities. In themselves, those conflicts, though equally bloody in the main, were spread over a longer period of time, and were largely 'A' political, in that non sought to challenge the authority of the sovereign to any great extent. They were in effect a series of conflicts amongst what were essentially brutal warlords, seeking to ally themselves, and achieve favours of the Sovereign, or to consolidate their own particular power base.
The roots of the civil war however, were for all practical purposes partly religious, and the cradle of the war lay in the bed chamber of Henry the V111 some 150 years earlier.
Henry the Eighths first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and except for Catherine Parr, the wife that survived him, married to him the longest, was unable after many tries to give him a male heir. In simple terms, Henry began an Affair, with Anne Boleyn, and sought to have his marriage to Catherine annulled for lack of conjugal enjoyment.
The church in the guise of the Roman catholic Church, refused to give him the right to annul or even divorce Catherine, so Henry, quite simply declared , that England was no longer a Catholic country. That he was to be the defender of the faith, a representative of God on earth, and the Church of England, the Anglican Church was formed.
From that day forth, the Catholic religion, was denigrated by the sovereign Monarchs henceforth. Although Mary, Henry's eldest daughter who later became queen Mary, ' bloody Mary', for her persecution of the protestant religion, did rule as a Catholic monarch, she was the very last Catholic Monarch of England.
When Charles the first came to the throne in succession to his father James the first, there had already been a serious blood letting of Catholic faithful following the Gunpowder plot and Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up the houses of Parliament.
James however, in an act of reconciliation, after the coup allowed Catholics to follow their religion openly and freely, and even made it illegal for there to be any persecution of any religion belief.
Therefore, when Charles succeeded to the throne in 1625, he found a country, that was largely free of religious intolerance. He intended for it to remain that way.
He was however strongly aware, as was his father, in the 'Divine right of Kings' to do as they wish. It would lead to his downfall.
Since he was the defender of the faith, and gods representative on earth, he had no choice but to enact the ordained tradgedy. Neither in court, nor in his bed chamber were his personal private inclinations allowed to stay his hand . His wife, Henrietta, was very beautiful, very dominant, and a devout catholic.
She enjoyed the full support in her religious leanings of a King who adored her, and one always prepared to let her have her own way. His complete adoration of his queen, was to lead him ultimately to the scaffold.
As Gods representative on earth, he believed he could do no wrong. He was supported openly and vociferously in this belief by his Queen, who constantly entreated him to support the glorification of the High Church in England. A church that had all the trappings of the very devout catholic church.
Such a stance, led to a suspicion amongst the leaders in Parliament and to the very influential Protestant Church, that the queen's influence would eventually lead to an ascendancy of the Catholic church again and possibly to a Catholic monarch.
Queen Henrietta did nothing to quell this fear. Rather, openly, in front of influential members of parliament, who in themselves held parliament and the protestant church sacred to what was an unwritten constitution, she flaunted her opinions and influence in the Kings decision making process.
The hard liners, the hawks, the social, constitutional reformers, took note, and let their hatred of the queen fester. That festering would lead eventually to a rift with the King.
Charles himself was his own worst enemy and did nothing to endear himself to the common people. He believed as I have already intimated, that he God's representative on earth. As such he could do no wrong. His reign therefore, was that of an autocratic despot.
Politically, he was inept, and took the country into a series of expensive military campaigns, that drained the exchequer deposits of the country. To replenish them, he needed to go to parliament and ask them to enact certain forms of taxation. Only parliament could give the authority for taxation, at the behest of the Sovereign. Once that taxation had been enacted, the King would dissolve parliament, again, and only call it when he needed more taxation.
He was encouraged in this autocratic rule by his wife, the very beautiful if well opinionated Henrietta. Thus, in 1629, having the previous year had to agree to the 'Petition of rights' which outlawed the raising of taxes, without the express permission of parliament, he dissolved parliament once more and continued his autocratic rule for a further eleven years.
During that time, his bailiffs, collected all non legal taxes, including A Ship Tax on all ports and inland towns, ostensibly to pay for ships for the navy, but in reality, to fill the coffers of the Royal treasury, which in turn, provided for his Queen's lavish life style.
Any person, often the week and poor who refused to pay the illegal tithes, were put to the sword, and their limbs amputated by Royal proclamation. Charles the first, thus became known as the 'man of blood'
Viz: In a comment on the Battle of Naseby during the war we hear the rhyme,
'Twas a glorious day in June,
When we saw their banners shine,
And the 'man of blood' was there,
With his long incessant hair, and,
There was Astley and Sir Marmaduke,
And Rupert of the Rhine.
In 1642, Charles, could no longer continue his illegal tax gathering, much to the annoyance of his wife, and was forced to call Parliament together again to enact more legal Taxation measures.
Parliament refused, under the express influence of John Pym, MP for Devizes, Oliver Cromwell, MP for Huntingdon, John Ireton, from Bristol, and Cromwell's brother in law, and Lord Fairfax, an ardent Royalist, but an even more ardent supporter of the principle of the power of parliament over the Sovereign.
The King, having been refused, and under the influence of his wife, decided to take troops to parliament and to arrest the 'trouble makers' . They had of course, had full warning of this, and had disappeared, all of them except Cromwell, who challenged the Authority of the King in open Session.
In a majority vote, Parliament supported Cromwell, and the King was forced to withdraw. The country was now at Civil War, a war that became known as the Kings war, since not many of his subjects wanted him to go this far.
The country was split straight down the middle, family against family, sisters and brothers against their own siblings. Thus it became a populace war.
At the star of the war, the protagonists forces were largely made up off common folk, called from the plough.
It is well to remember, that in those days, parliamentary suffrage, was not universal. Most of the members of parliament, were in fact the large landowners. Thus, on both sides, the armies were made up of battalions of men who worked on the land and estates belonging to those landowners.
Thus when hostilities opened, at Edge Hill in Warwickshire on 23rd of October 1642, the armies, were approximately the same size. The Royalists however were commanded by soldiers, with recent military campaign experience. The Parliamentarians by contrast being a collection of good hearted, but inexperienced
God fearing men called to the cause.
Neither side won the day, but Oliver Cromwell, saw the short comings in his untrained infantry, and after the battle set about training a parliamentary army, that could match any, such that within two years, he had formed England's first professional army, Known as the New Model Army. It was this consolidation of his forces into a highly trained fighting unit, that ultimately won the day.
The battles of the Civil war, are important in themselves, in any examination of the social nuances that influenced the war, and are the subject of a separate initiative. Suffice to say however, that by 2nd July 1644, The Royalists, had fought themselves to a standstill, and were confined to a series of heavily defended garrisons in the North country, around York. During the ensuing 12 to 18 months, the King had moved to Oxford and set up court there after being driven from London.
In manoeuvre designed to capture Oxford, The parliamentarians drove two forked attacks towards Oxford. One from the West under the command of General Ire ton, and the other from the East under Cromwell.
The armies met twice, at Newbury, each battle exactly 12 months apart.
On each occasion, the town was heavily defended, but the first battle, a series of quite bloodily fought skirmishes, gave the parliamentary army, the chance to see the lie of the land, and what were the strategic points.
During the second battle , again, Ireton attacked from the West, having secured Bristol. Cromwell came from the East and was held up at a point to the South East of Newbury subsequently Known as Wash common.
It was the scene of a particularly bloody encounter with severe hand to hand fighting, such that the land became awash with the blood of men and horses, hence the name Wash Common.
Cromwell prevailed on this salient, and was able to give Ireton supporting artilliary fire for his assault on the strategic prize to the North west of the Town, the heavily defended Donnington Castle. It was the one position, that prevented a successful advance on Oxford. Cromwell had to prevail here if the war was to be advanced.
Parliamentary artillery bombarded the castle for 10 days and nights, a continuous barrage. At the end of which, the only part of the castle left standing was the gate house tower. What was left of the defending forces, were all crowded into the tower, and upon the final surrender, Cromwell signed an order granting the defenders free passage, provided they laid down their arms and gave their feilty not to take up arms again for the duration of the war.
An interesting fact, up until the battle of the Somme, the bombardment of Donnington castle was the longest continuous artillery barrage in British History.
The siege on the Somme, outdid it by one day.
Ther parliamentarians victory at Newbury, opened the way to Oxford, and the King was forced to retreat North again to escape capture.
It is a significant fact, that just as Confederate forces, in the American Civil war never saw ascendancy again, following the Battle of Gettysburg, so too did Royalist forces never see ascendancy again following the Battle of Newbury.
King Charles settled his army around York, and a state of 'phony war' prevailed for a few months.
Then on 2nd July 1644, the battle of Marston Moor near York took place. The Royalists, were defeated by a much Superior Parliamentary Army. The North was lost, and for a few Months, the Royalists were reduced to defending a small number of beleaguered Garrisons to the North of York itself.
The end was near.
Prince Rupert, the Kings cousin, and a brilliant cavalry tactician was also soundly beaten by what he had previously thought a rabble.
During the following months, parliament organised it's new model Army under protestant influence. This produced a disciplined regimented fighting force under overall control of Oliver Cromwell.
His brother in law John Ireton, became second in command, and he demanded from each soldier absolute loyalty to Cromwell and parliament. It was this demand of loyalty which would ultimately demonstrate the dominance of Cromwell as a leader.
During that period, such was the influence of the Puritan code, that a number of conscripts, men from the plough, took it upon themselves to draw up a series of demands, a sort of bill of rights for the common man, which in essence demanded, that after the war, every man should take an equal share of the wealth of the nation. Every man and woman, should start off at the same level, whatever their previous station in life.
They became known as the ' levellers' because of this principle. I guess, they were, the first 'communists'.
They formulated a plan, which in essence placed demands on Cromwell and parliament, and openly mutinied in early 1645. Ireton, in a guise of listening to their demands, called for them to meet him, to discuss matters. When they arrived at his head quarters, he had them arrested, for mutiny, summarily tried them for treason, and executed them the very next morning.
Thus, the initial rumblings of disquiet, at the likely lot of the common man following the war, was snuffed out. The principle of 'levelling' however, was set aside, but not squashed.
On 14th June, 1645, there took place, what was effectively the deciding battle of the Civil war. At Naseby. The Royalists were crushed, and on 26th of March 1646, following a short battle at Stowe in the Wold, the King surrendered to Parliament.
The first stage Civil war was effectively at an end.
Charles was imprisoned on the Isle of White, and took part in a series of meetings with Cromwell and the leaders of Parliament, which discussed in essence, his retention of the Crown, but as a constitutional monarch under which he would have the power to dissolve parliament only if requested to do so by parliament itself. Essentially, he would keep all the trappings in keeping with his station in life, but would become a 'figure head' monarch.
Under the strong influence of his queen, he refused to council such a move. Cromwell entreated him to reconsider , since the leader of the army realised the country needed a King. Charles again refused and his imprisonment continued.
He eventually managed to escape, and the second phase of the war was about to begin.
Charles, enlisted the aid of the Presbyterian movement in Scotland, and on the promise of favour to that religion, if he were put back on the throne, the Scots decided to ally with him, and advanced South. They were repelled however on 17th to the 19th of August 1648 at the battle of Preston, and The king was again on the run, a fugitive in his own land.
His son, the Prince of Wales, and who some 12 years later would be restored to the throne as Charles the second, in what is known as Restoration England, a time of good king Charles, fought a rear guard campaign in 1648 to keep the idea of Monarchy alive.
Like his father, he was pursued relentlessly by the parliamentary army, and eventually was besieged in the City of Worcester.
Worcester, was a strongly Royalist City, right to the end. For that it is known in the UK as the faithful City. Its motto Semper Fidia, Ever faithful, remains to this day.
It is a sad fact, that most of the Royalist soldiers at the Battle of Worcester, the last real battle of the Civil war, were mostly Irish mercenaries, drawn to the Royalist cause for fear of Catholic persecution under Cromwell.
The battle lost, the kings son, as heir to the throne escaped to France, where he would live to fight another day. The war was effectively over, the persecution of the King about to begin.
He was recaptured, put on trial in January 1649, for treason against the state and the common folk.
Charles refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the court to 'Judge a King', but after due process, he was found guilty and imprisoned again, awaiting sentence.
The sentencing was ordered by parliament, and Cromwell himself, Fairfax and Ireton were the only members of the sentencing committee who did not favour the death sentence.
Cromwell, was asked to entreat with the King again to accept a compromise. Charles, again refused, with the complete compliance and influence of the queen.
She subsequently left for France on Charles insistence, and he was on his own.
The death warrant was drawn up, Cromwell the first to sign. He himself took the warrant to each of the 12 men around the table, and stood whilst they signed.
Fairfax, one of the original parliamentarians to challenge the King, refused at first. Cromwell however thrust the pen into his hand and ordered him to sign. Fairfax complied, and the King was sentenced to death by decapitation.
His execution took place on 30th January 1649, a bitterly cold day. Just prior to the fatal minute, Charles, asked for a warm shirt, since he was afraid he might shiver in the cold. He did not want his subjects to believe he was frightened of death.
As to the movement known as the 'levellers', what remained of their leaders, were also arrested in 1649, put on trial for treason found guilty and executed. The njoly movement to challenge the supremacy of parliament, was smashed.
Cromwell, was offered the monarchy, by his deluded comrades, and laughed in their faces. He set up a number of doomed parliaments, which because of the infighting amongst the protagonists within the chamber turned into an assembly of the rabble.
Cromwell eventually lost patience, with them, took the army to parliament, and unilaterally dissolved it. As the members left the chamber, Fairfax stopped as he passed Cromwell and uttered to his face the famous words,
'I seem to recall, that we executed a King for such as this'
Cromwell did not answer.
He ruled England for almost ten years as Lord Protector, during which time because of his largely religious tolerance, the Irish catholics would disagree, he ruled by popular consent. His tenure of the 'Commonwealth' dictatorship was a successful one, and it was a time, when England grew stronger, with more influence in foreign matters, than at any time in it's History. He created the model for many Universities, Oxford and Cambridge amongst them, and we prospered as a nation.
He died in 1658, and his son Richard took over. The nation however had grown tired of the strict religious fervour of the Puritan church, and wanted to laugh and have fun again.
By popular demand, Richard Cromwell's' tenure was dissolved, and the absent heir to the throne living in France, was asked to return and be Monarch.
The monarchy was restored in 1660 and Charles the second was King.
One of his first acts as King, was an act of Retribution for for the execution of his father.
He ordered, that Cromwell's body be resurrected from the grave, that it be taken to a lawful place of execution and beheaded.
Cromwell's head was stuck on a stake, and displayed until it rotted on tower bridge. The corpse was reburied in un consecrated ground. One of the bloodiest periods of English history was at an end.
Today, the site of Cromwell's grave, is a public sewer.
The morale of the story for all men?
Never lose your head over a beautiful woman.
Words by lastromantichero
Read 496 times
Written on 2006-08-23 at 20:01
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