| James Stuart was a Scottish Catholic who believed in the
"Divine Right" to rule as he pleased. This brought him into conflict with
the English Parliament. The failed Catholic Gunpowder Plot to blow up
Parliament in 1605 led to anti catholic riots. The failure of both James
and his son Charles I to understand the English tradition of parliamentary
liberty led eventually to civil war |
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James died unlamented in 1625. Charles I immediately
came in to conflict with Parliament. He tried to rule without
summoning parliament for 11 years, but eventually ran out of
money,and summoned Parliament in 1640 |
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| Parliament was naturally peeved about his neglect of
their rights. They refused him money, and the country split between
supporters of the king (blue on map left) and supporters of
parliament (red on the map) |
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The first major Engagement of the Civil War was at
Edgehill in the Cotswolds on 1642. Indecision among the Royalists and the
moulding of the New Model army by the parliamentarians led to Parliament
gaining the upper hand, and by 1645 Cromwell won the decisive Battle of
Naseby. Charles was captured and put on trial for treason in 1649. He
refused to recognise the court, but was regardless found guilty. 59
republicans signed the death warrant (above), and after the restoration
Charles II prosecuted those that he could. |
| Oliver Cromwell and the army emerged as the power in the
land. Cromwell dissolved parliament with the words "Depart I say, and let
us have done with you. In the name of God , go!" It was the start of
England's only period of dictatorship Cromwell was unable to find anything
to replace the monarchy. When he died in 1658 his son Richard suceeded
him, but "Tumbledown Dick" was not a man to rule Britain, and in 1660
Charles II was restored to the throne his father had died for. |
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