Stage 4: In 1640, the Parliament gave a new list of demands to Charles. The chance of Civil War at this point seemed very slim, especially as all of the moderate MPs, or backbenchers, believed Charles needed to change his ways, and after all, if there was a Civil War, who would fight on his side? These demands issued in November were slightly different from what Charles eventually agreed to in the summer of 1641. Some of the main agreements made were; Strafford was tried for treason and executed, the Parliament must now meet every three years, some of the King's ministers, including Archbishop Laud, were sent to prison, and Ship money was made illegal. This emphasises the power the Parliament now have over Charles, and this led the way for more lists of demands from the Parliament.
The six events that triggered of the Civil War in 1642 were, 'The Grand Remonstrance'(a new list of demands) was when the Commons became divided, as it was only just narrowly passed, 159 to 148, and it was now clear that the King now has some MPs on his side, who believed the Parliament were going too far. Catholic Irishmen rised up against their Protestant rulers on the 1st November, with 200,000 Protesants dead. This caused unrest with the public especially in London because rumours spread of Charles being behind the rebellion and this being the first step towards England becoming Catholic. In January, Charles brought Civil War even closer when he burst into the Commons and demanded the arrest of five MPs. The Civil War was now becoming extremely close. Especially when in February he had more MPs by his side than ever when some of the members of Parliament voted to get rid of bishops, and some to even abolish the Church of England, who they thought would caus chaos. In March, another dispute had to be settled as to who should control the army to put down the Irish rebellion. In the end the Parliament simply took control of the army without permission. In June the 'Nineteen Prepositions' , ANOTHER set of demands, finally divided the King's supporters from his opponents. Some of the prepositions, were, it has to be said, outrageous, as the King would have no control whatsoever over the country in which he rules, if they were granted. An example of a preposition is,'The Parliament is to control the army'.The Nineteen Prepositions was the major trigger which started the Civil War, in August 22, 1642.
The most important reason the Civil War had begun was the never-ending list of demands. All of the other reasons were not as important as this one although without them the war would not have happened. The least important reason was probably Ship Money, mainly because although the percentage of tax money collected gradually decreased, it didn't have that much of an impact on whether the war happened or not. The Parliament were definitely more responsible for the outbreak of war, because of their demands, which was why Charles claimed the demands would make him a 'mere phantom of a King'. Which was true, after all, one of the Nineteen Prepositions were,'Parliament must control the education of the King's children. His children cannot marry without Parliament's approval.'This would mean he could hardly have a say in what happens to his own children, which, I feel, is going too far. This was why the war was inevitable after those prepositions.
So, as you can see, there were many reasons why the war broke out. The Parliament were more responsible than the King, because they went too far and wanted to have more power than the King wanted them to. However, it was the moderate MPs in the end who made all the difference. If they hadn't thought that the Commons were pushing their luck then there wouldn't have been anybody on Charles' side, meaning no war, as you need two sides to fight a war.
By Moaize Chechi 8W
