Also Charles without Parliament ran out of money on a regular basis, because he didn’t call Parliament often, also because people wouldn’t pay the taxes he set. Another reason he kept running out of money was because he got himself into a lot of wars, so that was more money.
To get more money he brought back an old rule, Ship Tax. Ship Tax was taken from coastal counties. But because Charles wanted more money he started to tax the whole country even people who didn’t live on the coast. And if people didn’t pay they might have been sent to prison.
Religious arguments and Ship Money made Charles very unpopular. Until 1638 when he made a big mistake. He argued with the Scots. Charles and Laud tried to force them to use the English prayer book. But most Scots were strong Protestants. So it didn’t go down very well.
The Scots refused and then rebelled. They formed an army, and in 1640 they marched into England, and made demands on Charles.
This is a promise made by Scottish people in 1638: “ We promise and declare that we shall with all our means and lives defend our true Protestant religion”. So they did not want the English Prayer Book. The following is part of a letter from Charles to his general in Scotland: “ Say what you need to these rebels, your aim now must be to win time so that the crowds cause no damage until I can attack them. I will die rather than yield to these impertinent and awful demands. So Charles was determined to get the Scots to use the English Prayer Book. Even if it meant he have to send an army up there. Charles did fight the Scots but he lost, so he had to call Parliament back again because he needed more money.
But then in 1641 the Grand Remonstrance got Parliament very worried, because the voting was very close: - 159 votes to Parliament and 148 to Charles. Charles was very happy now that he had some support behind him.
On the 1st of November 1641 news reached London of a rebellion in Ireland. Catholics had risen up against their protestant rulers, rumours spread through London like wildfire – 200,000 Protestant had been murdered. But Charles was behind the rebellion. It was the first part of the plan to make England Catholic. But Parliament refused to let Charles have an army because they thought he’d use it against them. But in January 1642 Charles tried to arrest 5 MP’s. He burst into the House of Common’s with 400 soldiers and demanded that the 5 MP’s had to be handed over for arrest. However, the 5 MP’s had been warned and had fled by boat down the Thames. The Council of London then protected them, and they were treated like heroes. But Charles actions proved to Parliament that he couldn’t be trusted. Charles moved out of London to look for support.
In 1642 there were arguments about Money, Religion and Power. Some MP’s wanted to get rid of Bishops and some wanted to get rid of the Church of England. (But not all MP’s agreed)
But eventually they got their way because in February 1642 Parliament voted to throw Bishops out of the House of Lords.
In March 1642 England needed an Army to put down the Irish Rebellion. But “Who should Control it”? But in the past Kings had ruled Army’s but they didn’t trust Charles enough. But Parliament wanted to control the Army themselves but Charles wouldn’t let them. So in March Parliament just took control of the Army without Charles’s permission.
On the 1st of June Parliament passed a set of demands called the Nineteen Propositions. This finally divided the Kings supporters from his opponents. Here are a few of them: - All affairs of State must be approved of by Parliament. All Ministers must be approved of by Parliament. But Charles and some MP’s did not like this so Charles left London again. In June Parliament ordered each country to organise an Army. Charles issued the same order. In many places people were being made to choose between the King and Parliament, which was a decision they didn’t want to make. By August each side had collected an Army. Then an the 22nd of August Charles raised his Standard at Nottingham.
The Civil War had begun.
The Civil War began because of a variety of reasons the main reasons were Money because Charles was having to call Parliament more often, because he was getting into loads of Wars. Religion because of the changes in the church, another reason was Charles trying to change the country to Catholic. Power because of the 19 propositions that Parliament made, which didn’t go down very well with Charles. So that was another argument. Another reason to do with power was the Grand Remonstrance.
I think both Charles and Parliament was to blame. Ok so Charles made a lot of mistakes and didn’t stick to the demands that had been set. But Parliament was probably a bit greedy what with making all the demands, and wanting to get called back more so they could get more power.