James Elizabeth's successor in 1603, was king of both England and Scotland.
The Tudors had created an autocracy in Church and state but without the financial means to sustain it. For the monarchy to become financially independent, it would have been necessary to impose greater taxes on the ruling classes both in town and country. Their representatives in the House of Commons would not consent to this. James was criticized but, on the whole, liked. His son Charles was widely distrusted.
Religious problems faced James. He made it clear that he would make no changes in religion. He condemned the Puritans. Some Puritans mounted criticism of royal policy in the House of Commons and outside. The political radicalism of the Puritan grew naturally from his relation to God and to society. As God's chosen people the Puritans felt their triumph inevitable and their enemies to be God's enemies. James was presented with a petition from Puritan clergy asking for a moderate liberty to accept or reject some points of ritual. In 1604 a conference at Hampton Court discussed the petition. James presided at it. The democratic spirit of Puritanism was thought by James incompatible with royal absolutism. The one positive result of the Conference was the setting up of a commission to make a new translation of the Bible. This, completed in 1611 was known as the Authorised Version or King James's Bible. A small number of Puritans left to establish colonies in North America, where they could worship as they wished.
Catholics were disappointed with the new monarch too. A group of Catholic extremists decided to blow up the king and Parliament when James opened the new session of Parliament in November 1605. One conspirator, Guy Fawkes, placed gunpowder in the cellars beneath the Houses of Parliament, but the plot was discovered, and the plotters were executed. Since then the deliverance of the King, Parliament and Protestantism has been celebrated each year on November 5.
One source of friction between the king and the House of Commons was foreign policy. Peace was made with Spain in 1604, but this was unpopular. In 1621 the Commons discussed foreign affairs though the area came exclusively under royal control. Enraged at the action of the House of Commons James tore out the pages recording the debate from the Commons journal. Finally James conceded to the critics and in 1624 declared war on Spain. When France and Spain formed an alliance in 1626 England declared war on France. The English navy did badly and the commons were critical of the government.
Charles I succeeded his father in 1625. An opposition was formed which seized the initiatives in debates in the Commons. In 1625 Parliament refused to grant Charles some traditional taxes. Charles dissolved Parliament in anger. A second Parliament was also dissolved quickly.
From 1629 until 1640 Charles ruled without a Parliament; this period has been called "The Personal Rule" and the "Eleven Years' Tyranny". The king's most confidential counselor, Lord Strafford started creating a hired army in Ireland. Charles had to convene a Parliament that later came to be called "The Long Parliament", (November 1640-1653). When in May 1641 a Bill was passed fixing the Long Parliament as a State institution not to be dissolved in general, not to be cancelled or postponed without the consent of the members' majority, the constitutional monarchy in England was officially established. The situation deteriorated: Charles tried to arrest the leaders of the Commons and Parliament attempted to take custody of the royal family. Throughout the country there was a taking of sides, and in August 1642 the Civil War began.
The country divided broadly into 2. The economically advanced south and east, and nearly all major commercial and manufacturing cities, including London, sided with Parliament. London was the stronghold of the right wing of the Parliamentary forces, the Presbyterians, as the party of landowners and rich merchants came almost accidentally to be called. The Londoners were fanatically attached to the moderate leader, the Earl of Essex. Over against these stood the Independents, the left wing, drawn mainly from fanners, tradesmen and artisans of the country towns. They were the most democratic and revolutionary section and out of them the New Model Army was created later. Parliament had also the support of the Navy and controlled the foreign trade. Here lay its greatest advantage.
It was a war which divided the traditional ruling classes of the country. Puritans fought for Parliament. Catholics were with the King. Many men remained neutral, and life in the country went on relatively smoothly despite the war.
Though the war was fought in the interests of the property-owning section of society who paid the taxes and had the vote (no more than 10% of the population), the struggle obviously involved ordinary people.
The Parliament army in general suffered from lack of experience while the royalists or "cavaliers" used to hunting and were ready for armed conflicts and thus at first they were victorious. Historians mention 10 battles fought by the 2 armies. The first Parliament success was in 1644 when the king's army under his nephew Prince Rupert and the duke of Newcastle was defeated by Oliver Cromwell and his Ironsides". Not only lack of experience was to blame for the puritan failure of the first years of the Civil War, but the presbyterians' desire of compromise with the king. It was the independents' influence that rallied the masses of yeomanry, petty bourgeoisie and the town poor.
They were headed by Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658). He came of a gentry family, was brought up as a strict puritan, first elected to Parliament in 1628, then to the Long Parliament in 1640. As soon as military action began, he became well known as a talented military organizer.
In September 1643 the English Parliament formed an alliance with the Scots (who had been neutral since the beginning of the war), under the terms of which English agreed to adopt the Scottish form of worship in return for the services of a large Scottish army. In June 1645 the king's army was finally and decisively defeated. Charles surrendered to the Scots, who in January 1647 handed him over to the English Parliament for L 200.000. But a serious division of the Parliament into two parties, the Presbyterians and independents grew up. To the Presbyterian majority in the Commons the Revolution was over and they started to consolidate their gains. The estates of the church, Crown and of Royalists were requisitioned. Presbyterianism was established as the State religion and repressive laws were passed against the Independent sects. The Independents expressed the interests of the radical wing of the bourgeoisie and of the new commercially minded nobility headed by Oliver Cromwell. As a religious trend they were against any church sponsored by the state. As a political party the independents made the radical wing in the Parliament camp and headed the movement against monarchy.
Cromwell had to secure the Parliamentary victory in Ireland and Scotland. He subdued Ireland with such brutality in 1649 that his name has been associated there with curses to the present day. The Scottish army was decisively beaten by Cropiwell as well.
As to the Independents there came a division in their ranks: the democratic elements created their own separate party of Levellers. The political programme of the Levellers was embodied in the Agreement of the People. Cromwell declared in general terms his sympathy with the programme of the Agreement.
In 1648 the Second Civil War actually broke out which shelved the struggle between Cromwell and the Left temporarily. The Second Civil War forced Cromwell to make concessions to the Left and in 1648 the agreement was reissued in a modified form by a committee headed by Lilburne. The Levellers' movement had no backing. It was the movement of a doomed class, the independent farmers, who were later crushed by the growth of a large scale capitalist agriculture. It was soon clear that Cromwell and the Parliamentary Independents intended to allow The Agreement to remain on paper only, the officers had no intention of carrying through a social revolution. A temporary body, the Council of State, was set up to act as an executive. The levellers withdrew and the leaders were arrested in 1649. The army levellers revolted, meanwhile Cromwell suppressed the rebellion in the army and by and by the movement ended.
The Royalists were quick to take advantage of the struggle between the Parliamentary parties. The task of the moment was suppression of the Presbyterians and Cromwell displayed wonders of simple strategy, he directed troops to surround the House of Commons and stationed a staunch independent, one Colonel Pride at the door with a list of the Presbyterian members and all unreliable members in general. The Procedure was called "Pride's Purge".
150 Presbyterian members were excluded from the Commons or imprisoned.
On January 4, 1649, the "Rump", as the Independent remnant in the Commons was called, passed a resolution, declaring "that the Commons of England being chosen and representing the people, have the supreme power in this nation".
RumpParliament - «охвостье» (прозвище членов Долгого Парламента оставшихся в его составе после Прайдовой чистки).
In January 1649 Charles was executed.
In February of the same year the House of Lords was abolished and England became a Republic ruled by Parliament. This was the highest point of the English bourgeois revolution.
Sporadic Royalist upsprings were easily crushed.
To Cromwell the execution was the culmination of the revolution and the beginning of a period of stabilization.
Scotland was put under English rule in 1651 and controlled by an army. Cromwell rooted out radicalism in the army and always assumed that men of property should rule. But the propertied classes came to hate the Republic. They resented the firm military government at the center and interference in the running of local affairs, which landowning Justices of the Peace saw as their exclusive province.
Cromwell's authority in the army was immense. The bourgeoisie and the gentry wanted monarchy back. The Parliament of 1656 offered him the crown. Cromwell refused. The regime was losing mass support.
When Cromwell died in September 1658 the Republic died with him. His son, Richard, resigned the title of Protector which he had inherited from his father. The surviving members of the Long Parliament convened and asked Charles II to return as king.
The Republic saw the triumph of Puritanism. Bishops were abolished. Theatres were closed. The Puritans believed in the merits of education; all men, they declared, should be able to read the Bible. Acts of Parliament in Scotland imposed on landowners the duty of creating a school in every parish.
1611-the Authorised Version or King James's Bible
1605-the new session of Parliament in November
1629-1640- "The Personal Rule" and the "Eleven Years' Tyranny".
1642-the Civil War
1648–1651-the second civil war
