You may have heard of the French Revolution. That was a civil war. Or you might have heard of the American Revolution. That was also a civil war. Oh yes, and then there was the American Civil War. That was another one...
But did you know that the first people to have a civil war were actually the English? In fact, the English were always having civil wars. One of them resulted in the most famous legal document of all time – the Magna Carta. But there were lots more tussles between royal families, and a really important civil war that lasted for ages and ages was called the Wars of the Roses. And that was all in the Middle Ages before any other countries had even thought about such things. Then there was the civil war just called the 'Civil War' which this book is all about. Perhaps they had run out of good titles for wars.
And what is more, the English were the only people to have a civil war and then go back to a king again because they thought what happened without a king was far worse...
James I, who was already King James VI of Scotland, also became King James I of England in 1603 when Queen Elizabeth I died without having any children. James belonged to the House of Stuart.
James believed kings should be able to rule in any way they wished. All monarchs had felt like that, but they had been clever enough to work with parliament most of the time. During Tudor times Henry VIII hated his parliament and Elizabeth had to work hard to get her way with her own parliament. But somehow things had never resulted in breakdown.
But James came down from Scotland to take up the throne from Elizabeth and he was not at all used to dealing with a parliament.
The problem was that parliament did not feel like being ignored, and so James and parliament argued often. In 1611, James got really fed up and sent the members of parliament home. Then he ran the country with the help of his own unelected advisors.
The trouble was, James still needed parliament from time to time. In 1621, James asked the members of parliament to return so they could approve the marriage of James' son, Charles, to a Spanish princess. Parliament was appalled - the Spanish were Catholics and had recently been at war with England. They refused to allow the marriage, so James and Parliament continued to fight.
James I died in 1625, and James' son Charles became king. Charles, like his father, believed the king should be able to rule in any way he wished. But more so. He was also not a very tactful person. In 1629 he locked the doors of the parliament building and refused to let parliament inside. For the next 11 years, Charles ruled England with the help of his friends and advisors.
Funnily enough, Charles I had not upset all members of parliament. So, between 1641 and 1642, the members of Parliament were divided between those who supported Charles and those who did not. By January 4, 1642, Charles thought he had enough support to get rid of his enemies. He led 300 soldiers into Parliament to arrest his five biggest critics. But the five men had been tipped off and went into hiding.
Of course, now Charles had showed his true feelings for Parliament. The members of Parliament had been elected by the people (at least, sort of). If Charles was prepared to arrest five members of Parliament for criticising his rule, was anybody safe? All of London was soon in an uproar over what the king had done, and on January 10, 1642 Charles was forced to flee the city. He went to Oxford to raise an army to fight Parliament for control of England.
In November 1641, Parliament passed a document called the Grand Remonstrance that criticised Charles. This shocked many people, as the King had never been publicly criticised by Parliament. Parliament also gave Charles a list of 19 demands. These included asking the King to give up control of any kind of army and to give Parliament the right to appoint ministers. Charles refused to sign these demands, and in August the king raised his royal standard in Nottingham. Civil war had begun.
Everyone was forced to choose one side or the other in the civil war. For many ordinary people, they simply chose the army that came to their town or village first. They didn't really have a choice unless they wanted to run away or be killed. Most of the gentry and nobility, Catholics and about half the members of Parliament were on the side of the King. The King's supporters were called Cavaliers, from the French word 'chevalier', which means horse. The Cavaliers wore their hair long and wealthy cavaliers wore expensive clothes and rode on horseback.
Parliament's supporters were called Roundheads, because they cut their hair short so you could see the shape of their skulls. They also usually wore very plain clothes and a round helmet. They did not call themselves Roundheads and, in fact, it was against the law to use the word in places controlled by Parliament. But Charles' side did as, for example: 'the rabble condemned and despised under the name of Roundheads'.
The Civil War was not a long continuous battle. In fact, there were not very many battles in the entire war. This is because in the 17th century, it took a long time to move an army around the country.
During 1645, the Parliamentary army defeated the last of the King's forces. In April 1646, the New Model Army besieged Oxford, the King's headquarters. The King escaped and fled to Newark, where he surrendered to the Scottish who then handed him over to the Parliamentarians. The city of Oxford surrendered on June 24. The war with Charles I was over.
On January 20, 1649, the Rump Parliament ordered King Charles to go on trial for treason. The trial was held in a special court and took four days. The King acted with great dignity but refused to answer any questions, saying the court was not legal. Charles was found guilty on January 27, and ordered to be executed.
