were main causes english civil war essay

In this lesson, we explore the English Civil War, a conflict that took place in the 1640s between forces loyal to King Charles I and those loyal to Parliament. The conflict arose due to complex political and religious disagreements and culminated in the trial of the king. English Civil WarCivil wars are not uncommon occurrences both throughout history and today; it seems that at any time there is at least one, if not several, being fought. The history of Western Europe is full of insurrections that pitted an ethnic, religious, or political group against the prevailing government of the day. What, then, makes the English Civil War so special? The civil war that occurred from 1642 to 1649 in England was unique in that it pitted a monarch and his representative assembly against one another for the first time ever. Even more groundbreaking, the English Civil War culminated in the first ever trial and execution of a sitting monarch. BackgroundThe English Civil War was a highly complex conflict, one which cannot be pinned on one cause alone. Indeed, several things contributed to the animosity between Parliament and the monarchy, which erupted into armed conflict in 1642. Firstly, England, and specifically Parliament, exhibited a rabid paranoia concerning Catholicism in the 17th century. English Protestants were constantly fearful of Catholicism being foisted upon the English, whether through foreign invasion or internal rebellion. As a result, the English were suspicious when Charles I attempted to impose a new, Arminian prayer book upon both England and Scotland. The book reinstituted some Anglican principles and practices that Puritan activists had sought to eliminate from English practice. Many Englishmen, especially the more radical Protestant activists, viewed these practices as inherently Catholic, and rumors abounded that Charles was preparing to reintroduce.
The Civil War did not start as a revolution. Those involved did not set out to remove the Monarchy and replace it with a Republic.  Conflicting attitudes towards Royal authority and religion brought about a series of events which escalated into armed conflict. Charles I believed he ruled with the Divine Right of Kings. This meant he thought he was King by the will of God and therefore his decisions could not be challenged or questioned.  This ideology was opposed by those who believed there should be a limit to Royal authority; that the people and their representatives, that is Parliament should have more say in how the nation was governed.  Tied up with this were arguments over the Church and religion. There were deep divisions over what religious practices, forms of worship and organisational structure the Church should have. Download your print-friendly fact sheet and learn more through these great books all under £10 Your Free Fact sheet 'The Causes of the English Civil War'         Religion Religion was a major cause of the English Civil War. It was part of a Europe wide conflict between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. At the start of his reign (1625) King Charles I had married the Roman Catholic Henrietta Maria of France. Included in her marriage treaty were provisions that she be allowed to practice her religion freely at Court. It was also made a condition of the treaty that King Charles I set about lifting restrictions for recusants (that is Catholics who refused to attend Anglican Church services). The marriage was not a popular one. At this time Roman Catholics were distrusted and feared. The reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary as she came to be known) had seen the persecution of Protestants. Within living memory there had been the attempted invasion of England by Roman Catholic Phillip II of Spain in 1588 (The Spanish Armada); the.
Citation: C N Trueman The Causes of the English Civil War historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 17 Mar 2015. 3 Mar 2016. Charles I                         Oliver Cromwell The English Civil War has many causes but the personality of Charles I must be counted as one of the major reasons. Few people could have predicted that the civil war, that started in 1642, would have ended with the public execution of  Charles. His most famous opponent in this war was Oliver Cromwell  – one of the men who signed the death warrant of Charles. No king had ever been executed in England and the execution of Charles was not greeted with joy. How did the English Civil War break out? As with many wars, there are long and short term causes. Long term causes: The status of the monarchy had started to decline under the reign of James I. He was known as the “wisest fool in Christendom”. James was a firm believer in the “divine right of kings”. This was a belief that God had made someone a king and as God could not be wrong, neither could anyone appointed by him to rule a nation. James expected Parliament to do as he wanted; he did not expect it to argue with any of his decisions. However, Parliament had one major advantage over James – they had money and he was continually short of it. Parliament and James clashed over custom duties. This was one source of James income but Parliament told him that he could not collect it without their permission. In 1611, James suspended Parliament and it did not meet for another 10 years. James used his friends to run the country and they were rewarded with titles. This caused great offence to those Members of Parliament who believed that they had the right to run the country. In 1621, James re-called Parliament to discuss the future marriage of his son, Charles, to a Spanish princess. Parliament was outraged. If such a marriage occurred.
Causes of the English Civil War Length: 494 words (1.4 double-spaced pages) Rating: Red (FREE)   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The civil war broke out in 1642, and was a war that is within a country, it has many reasons for happening. This essay will explain and categorise the main cause’s fop the civil war. I will start by listing the genres of events. In the 1640’s power and politics were vital for social standard and anyone with power was important and respected so naturally and event such as the civil war would have had politics as one of the main issues for happening. Charles becoming king was obviously a cause because it was his decisions that influenced the war itself and him who raised the flag. Also in 1629 Charles decided to close down parliament because he felt they were exerting too much power than they should, also it almost seems as if Charles is afraid of parliament or jealous because he feels that he is entitled to the “divine right of kings” and seeing parliament using all this power made him feel as if he was less and not as important. This was then followed by the “eleven years of tyranny” which ended in 1640 when he recalled parliament due to shortage of money and mistakes he had made. An interesting decision Charles made was to marry Henrietta a foreign royal, some people would have said this was purely religiously influenced because she was a catholic and people feared he married her because his desire was to make England catholic. Others have said that it was a power driven choice because he wanted to unite the two countries and gain more power. There are other more religious based events such as when Charles ordered Henry Laud to make a new prayer book which was to be read around the England. This caused an outrage between his people who could now no longer trust him. As if this wasn’t enough he then.