The roles and leadership of Charles Stuart and John Pym in the English Civil War from August 1642 to December 1643

Authors Avatar
The roles and leadership of Charles Stuart and John Pym in the English Civil War from August 1642 to December 1643.

On August the 2nd 1642 King Charles the 1st raised his standard at Nottingham. The English Civil War had begun and it lasted from 1642 until the King's execution at the beginning of 1649. One could argue that it was actually two separate Civil wars, fought between the Parliamentarians and the Royalists. The first war beginning in 1642 and ending in 1646 when the King was captured, and then the second from 1647 after the Kings escape, to 1648 when he was again defeated and captured. However this esssay will simply be looking at the years from 1642 to the end of 1643 when Pym died, as a comparison between their roles as leaders can go no further than ones death. What plan to do is compare and contrast the roles of these two men as leaders and decide to what extent John Pym was the reason for Parliament's success and to what extent was the King the reason for Royalist failures.

By 1640, John Pym had become the head of a political group who later became known at the Parliamentarians. According to Angela Anderson1, the victory of Parliament was owed much to the "tactical genius of Pym". He was a skilled political tactician who first entered parliament in 1614. He had participated in the Commons' Protestation against James in 1621 for which he was placed under house arrest for five days as a result. He also took part in the attack on the Duke of Buckingham due to his belief that the man was incompetent in the way of foreign policy.

The Parliamentarians (although not named that) originated back in the 1620's with a group of Lords and MP's -Lord Saye and Sele, the Earl of Warwick and Sir John Eliot. They organised the Petition of Right in 1628 and a year later John Pym had joined them during the crisis that produced the Three Resolutions of 1629. So the 1620's saw a number of events that brought together a group of men who had the same political views and the belief that the law of the land was binding on the king and his subjects.

Others that took up support of the Parliamentarians were yeomen and craftsmen and later on once the war had begun, many of the common people turned to the Parliamentarians also.

Pym played a major role leading up until his death in 1643. His role as leader of the Moderate group amongst the parliamentarians was important in keeping the war and peace groups together. His idea of introducing weekly taxes in London created a strong financial system for the parliamentarians which set them up for a long term war against the Royalists. He set up the Midland and Eastern Association that created good relationships between local county communities and the parliamentarians. His alliance with the Scots, proved crucial in the end although it caused a stir amongst the peace and war groups, but Pym's powers of persuasion and the firing of Henry Marten, a powerful war group leader, helped to reassure the peace group.

The Royalists were of course led by King Charles the 1st, who was the second son of the former King, James the 1st. Therefore Charles must have been brought up always believing that his brother would become the King after his father's reign. According to Angela Anderson2, who wrote a book on Charles the 1st in the Longman History in depth series, Charles was rather shy and not very good at speaking in public. This would surely be a problem for any ruler of a nation, as oratory skills are important in attracting support. His weakness at speaking in public would surely have been a problem in 1642-1643. She also states that Charles was overshadowed by the presence and then death of his brother, Prince Henry. So how did Charles act, believing he was not to become King? According to Charles Carlton3 Charles tried to protect himself by being submissive, something which is very rare in an heir, he became withdrawn and always seeking affection. So this was the attitude that Charles felt was appropriate, as it is the attitude he displayed to the King and his brother no doubt above all others. So when it was Charles that eventually became King, he expected his subjects to adopt that same attitude he had demonstrated to his brother and father. Charles was a strong believer in the Devine Right of Kings, like his father before him, and this was a reason for his inability to make concessions with parliament. His mixture of outward self-certainty and inner self-doubt made a lethal combination that created many difficulties with a many number of groups of people.

His followers, the Royalists, were made up of many of the gentry as Thomas Stephens, the sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1445 conceded that "almost all the gentry were ever for the King"4. Charles also had the support of foreign rulers that he was related to who lent their aid by supplying his army with cavalry. Among the King's followers there were moderates and extremists. The Moderates sought a compromise that would prevent the king from anymore unconstitutional acts, guarantee the rule of law and the rights of parliament, and leave intact the valid powers of the king in both Church and State. Edward Hyde (Lord Clarendon) and Lucius Carey (Lord Falkland) were the leaders of this group. The Extremists were a group who felt that the king needed to settle the dispute by force. Lord Digby was one extremist, and the King himself seemed to favour this option as well as the Queen, Henrietta Maria.
Join now!


Others who joined the Royalists were simply those too afraid to commit the sin of rebellion. This in fact deterred many supporters of the Long Parliament who began to feel that their demands had already been met and that the Long Parliament was beginning to push the limits. So Charles' position as King acted as a way of gaining support in the early stages of 1642.

The king's role in the English Civil war was of course possibly the most important individual role of all. His decision to move north to establish his court in York meant ...

This is a preview of the whole essay