How important was religion in the disputes between Charles I and his opponents in the period from 1640-1642?
How important was religion in the disputes between Charles I and his opponents in the period from 1640-1642?
There were many different factors such as religion, the Grand Remonstrance, Irish Rebellion and other factors, which created much opposition against Charles I. In this essay I will discuss further the factors and how important they were in the disputes between Charles I and his opponents.
Religion was one of many factors that caused disputes between Charles and his opponents. The changes introduced by Charles and Archbishop Laud in the church had created widespread and apparently united opposition. A petition was made which called for the reversal of Laud’s reforms and the abolition of bishops governing the church but nothing was resolved. Later there was widespread unpopularity of the Laudian bishops. Most wanted the reforms made by Laud to be abolished and they wanted to restore a Protestant church but few were committed to any Presbyterian model and even fewer to the abolition of bishops. In January 1641 Charles removed the bishops from the Privy Council, which meant they had a less powerful role in administration and government. In May Charles’ opposition introduced a bill to exclude bishops from the House of Lords as well but this did not go through. In June the Puritan faction attempted to bring in a Root and Branch Bill to abolish the office of bishop completely and reform the church along Presbyterian lines but this again failed. Already Charles’ was facing a lot of opposition and disputes about bishops. People had different views about Church Government based on their religious beliefs and social order. Some were deeply committed to reform of the Church along Puritan lines, there were some who disliked this idea and preferred the genuine affection for the tradition Anglican Church. While able to maintain parliamentary unity and the prerogative courts were finally abolished however they had failed to find an agreed way in reforming the Church. Religion was an important factor because as there were so many different denominations people were bound to have problems with how the church was wrong which caused disputes between Charles and his opponents.
