The state of Monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth: for Kings are not only God’s Lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon Gods throne, but even by God himself they are called Gods.
- James I, in a Speech to the Lords and Commons of Parliament at Whitehall, 21 March, 1609.
At the beginning of Charles’ reign, Parliamentarians, who were mainly Protestant, were horrified when Charles married Henrietta Maria, a Catholic princess from France. England’s relations with France were not good, and as well as marrying a Catholic, Charles introduced High Anglicanism, or what we know today as the Church of England. The religion included many Catholic principles, which Parliamentarians were outraged at, and when he also began to punish Puritans, including three who got their ears cut off, people began to suspect that he was secretly a Catholic.
Charles and the Parliamentarians argued over most issues, and one day it got to a point when the MPs arrived at Parliament to find it locked up with large chains and padlocks. Charles had done the same as that which James had done; he closed down Parliament so that he could run the country as he wanted to. He kept it shut for 11 years. When he needed money he would persuade rich people to buy titles, and if they refused they were fined the same amount anyway. He ruled with the help of his friends, and made people pay a new kind of tax called Ship Money. This was supposed to pay for the navy in times of war, and all people living on the coast were meant to pay it, but Charles made everyone pay it when there was no war.
Charles wanted power not only in England but also Scotland and Ireland. He sent soldiers to Ireland in a hopeless attempt to take over; he was fast losing this war and needed more money to fund it.
Parliament executed the Earl of Strafford on charges of organising an army in Ireland, where he governed. It turned out that this was a big mistake - as soon as Strafford was executed, the Irish Catholics rebelled against the Protestants, saying they were rebelling for the King. Although it was clear this was not true, Parliament did not trust the King when he asked them for an army to send to Ireland to help, and so refused, believing he would use it against them instead.
He also tried spreading his new religion, High Anglicanism, to the Church of Scotland by sending Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury there. The Scots were strictly Puritan and would never accept a religion that had so many Catholic aspects involved, and so they invaded England. They made Charles pay them £850 per day to stop them advancing, and he had to recall Parliament in 1640 as only they had the necessary money needed to fight a war and the required authority to collect extra money. Charles was now at their mercy, and a Parliament leader, John Pym, sent the following demands to Charles in exchange for the money he needed:
- The King’s advisors must be approved by MPs
- Parliament must control the army
- Parliament should decide the future of the Church
- Parliament should make sure that the King’ children are brought up Protestants and decide how they are educated and who they marry
- The King must get rid of his soldiers
Charles, backed by 236 MPs who thought that Pym had gone too far, angrily rejected his demands, went north, and called every loyal citizen to come with him and fight.
We can categorise the causes of the war into:
- Power. Both sides wanted to control the country, and each wanted more power than the other over issues such as the army, taxes, and the Church
- Money. Charles’ lack of money lead to many disputes including the illegal taxation, and John Pym’s demands which sparked off the war
- Religion. The wars leading up to the civil war with Scotland and Ireland were caused mostly by religious disagreements. The Divine Right and High Anglicanism greatly angered the MPs.