Political Divisions: The Long Parliament, Pym And The Outbreak Of Civil War Flashcards
(47 cards)
1
Q
When was the long parliament called?
A
- November 1640
- lasted until August 1641
2
Q
What financial reform did Bedford try to impose?
A
- an attempt to settle the conflict with the crown
- Bedford + his allies - pym, proposed a compromise without any fundamental change to the political system
- eg abolition of the most confrontational financial and political aspects of personal rule
- a return to an Elizabethan based broad Protestant church
- a separate financial system for Charles (as agreed by parliament)
- to carry this out - Bedford proposed taking the position of lord treasurer and pym as chancellor of exchequer
- Charles was reluctant to accept this - Bedford died of smallpox in may 1641
3
Q
What was the 1641 triennial act?
A
- passed February 1641 + reluctantly accepted by Charles
- this act limited prerogative powers by demanding Parliament meets for at least a 50 day session over a course of 3 years
- if the king failed to call parliament - House of Lords could assemble and issue writs for the election of the House of Commons
4
Q
When was Thomas wentworth put on trial?
A
- November 1640 - sent to the Tower of London, beheaded in may 1641
5
Q
When was William laud put on trial?
A
- late February 1641 - on 14 different charges
6
Q
What was the June 1641 tonnage and poundage act?
A
- this regulated taxation
7
Q
When were prerogative courts abolished?
A
- July 1641
8
Q
When did parliament peacefully dismantle personal rule?
A
- by August 1641
9
Q
What was the significance of strafford’s execution?
A
- his case hinged upon the fact that he advised Charles to treasonably use the Irish army against English opponents and Scots
- Strafford defended himself so well that his alleged treason could not be proved
- this worried pym - he resorted to a bill of attainder
- Charles eventually gave consent to the bill - Strafford was executed in 1641
10
Q
What did the first session of the long parliament achieve?
A
- the dismantling of arbitrary powers during personal rule
- prerogative income limited to prevent financial independence
- prerogative courts abolished
- evil councillors impeached or executed - challenged Charles’ right to choose his own ministers
- triennial act prevented a personal rule for longer than 3 years
11
Q
Why was the bill of attainder passed in may 1641?
A
- pym revealed rumours of an army plot - centred on an attempt by officers to seize the Tower of London, release wentworth and dissolve parliament - evidence also suggested queen Henrietta Maria’s involvement
- this + the protestation oath pushed Charles to approve the bill
12
Q
When did Pym start to rise?
A
After Bedford’s death in may 1641
13
Q
Who was John pym?
A
- a man driven by religious fanaticism
- resolute, serious puritan
- argued against prerogative courts, Charles’ religious policy +taxation
- accused the government of causing war between England and Scotland
- accused the government of absolutist rule in Ireland
- initiated legal attacks towards Stafford and laud + wanted parliament to be in complete control
- aimed for a political settlement without the fear of Charles over turning it
- radicalised during long parliament
14
Q
What was the bill of attainder?
A
- allowed for anyone see as a threat to the state to be removed by parliament without the need for a formal trial
15
Q
Why did parliament dislike wentworth?
A
- his heavy handed approach in handling the Irish situation
- he wanted to raise parliamentary funds to wage war against Scots
- real risk of punishment for openly criticising the king - so it was safer to blame evil councillors like Wentworth and laud for the Scottish crisis - attack on Charles undermined the DROK
16
Q
How many votes was the bill of attainder passed on?
A
- 204 to 59
17
Q
What was the 1640 root and branch petition?
A
- signed by 15,000 Londoners in December 1640 (London crowd)
- demanded end of bishops and episcopacy
- puritan force
- supported by Pym = debated in parliament in 1641- did not aim to destroy the church, but simply reform it
- many in parliament saw the dismantling of church structures as worrying
18
Q
How did Pym achieve his aims during the long parliament?
A
- impeachment of wentworth and laud
- formation of a working alliance with the Scottish Covenators
- using parliamentary financial pressures to control Charles’ political options
19
Q
What was the Triennial Act February 1641?
A
- abolished ship money without parliamentary consent
- stated that Charles had to call parliament every 3 years and it should last a minimum of 50 days
- ensured there would not be another prolonged period of personal rule
20
Q
What were the 10 propositions in June 1641?
A
-confirmed the radicalism of parliament
- made it clear that the king had to make concessions including ; parliamentary input on who was in his privy council, parliamentary control of those around his queen, parliamentary control over religious education for the royal children
- little chance that Charles would agree to this given its radicalism
21
Q
What was the Scottish Cumbernauld band?
A
- earl of Montrose + 17 other Scottish nobles signed this to state a desire to defend the king
- signalled a division in Scotland
- Charles appreciated that an agreement with some of the leading Scots would remove the occupying scottish army - which was one of the main props for his opposition in the long parliament
- Charles continued to play on this division by choosing to accept the abolition of episcopacy in Scotland
22
Q
What was the Incident in October 1641?
A
- while Charles was in Scotland ; royalist plot to kidnap radical Scottish Covenanters
- instigators included extreme royalists eg earl of Crawford + moderate Covenanters such as Montrose
- they wanted to be rid of leading radical Covenanters such as Archibald Campbell
- destroyed Charles’ hopes of getting further support in Scotland as he was linked to this plot because he attended the parliament in Edinburgh
- by the time Charles left Scotland - he no longer had any support + forced to appoint his opponents to key posts in the English parliament
23
Q
How long did the Irish rebellion last in October 1641?
A
-lasted over the winter of 1641-2
24
Q
What was the October 1641 Irish rebellion?
A
- aimed to seize control over the English administration in Ireland to force concessions for catholics
25
What gave rise to the Irish rebellion?
- Wentworth had succeeded in alienating all different groups in Ireland
- the Scottish rebellion + wentworth’s return to England prompted the Irish catholics to act due to :
- Presbyterian Scot’s were controlling Scotland and were in alliance with English puritans. Their growing influence threatened Catholic Ireland
- with Wentworth removed, the Irish sought to pre-emptively prevent radical outsiders imposing harsh Protestant rules on them
- launched pre emptive strike against the Protestants in Ulster - massacring at least 3000
26
How did parliament respond to the Irish rebellion?
-conflicted on what to do - did not want to give the king control of the army to squash the rebellion
- intensified the puritan faction in parliament - viewed the Irish rebellion as a popish plot
- posed the question of who should have control over the armed forced; king or parliament?
27
What were the consequences of the Irish rebellion?
- debate over what to do about Ireland divided parliament
- the Irish rebellion converted the constitutional crisis from Scotland to England
28
How did the development of a royalist party come to be?
- after the death of Bedford in may 1641 - MPs such as Pym attempted other ways to solve the problems between Parliament and the crown, which created divisions in parliament leading to a formation of the royalist party
29
Why were there divisions in parliament by the end of 1641?
- the prevention of personal rule ; all MPs agreed that they did not want this to be exercised again, but the question of how to prevent it or what to put in place brought about many differences
-bill of attainder; breakdown of unity began when some saw the use of the bill of attainder to remove Wentworth as constitutionally dangerous
- religion ; religious issues such as the role of bishops caused further division - for example moderates began to fear that the actions of radical parliamentarians such as Pym would bring about more danger than the actions of Charles
- the moderate reaction across the period 1640-42 has been labelled as constitutional royalism
- in the face of radical Puritanism in which Parliament would take over much of royal prerogative - many nobles and gentry panicked and looked to the concept of monarchy rather than Charles himself as the best protection for a moderate Protestant church, law and order and their contained influence
30
What was the November 1641 grand remonstrance?
- introduced by Pym to the commons
- essentially a list of criticisms of Charles’ government since 1625 to show why the king could not be trusted with the control of the army that needed to be raised to crush the Irish rebellion
- it was timed to come immediately before the king’s belated turn from scotland - done to appeal to the London crowd by illustrating Charles could not be trusted with an army
- stated that an assembly of divines was to be held superetly at Westminster to discuss religious settlement
31
Why was the grand remonstrance significant?
- seen as a direct attack on Charles although it did not accuse him directly
- political issues were being deliberately and openly directed away from Westminster in order to involve the people themselves as a means of putting pressure on MPs
- moderates were alarmed by the grand remonstrance’s language - heavy anti catholic
- debate as to whether to publish the grand remonstrance shows the real division in Parliament - resulting in the formation of the two sides that would fight the civil wars
32
How was the grand remonstrance passed?
- debate lasted 12 hours - passed by 159 votes to 148
33
What were the royalist views of the grand remonstrance?
-believed Charles was the rightful commander of the army which was to be sent to Ireland
- disliked the radicalism
34
What were the radicals’ view on the grand remonstrance?
- believed that Charles could not be trusted to lead the army against Catholic Ireland + supported the remonstrance
35
What was the December 1641 militia bill?
- forced MPs to take sides on who should command the army
- introduced by Arthur haselrig
- the bill wanted to:
- Remove the king’s power over the trained bands completely
- give parliament the power to to appoint any commanders
- essentially proposed that Parliament would be in control of the army raised to crush the Irish rebels
36
What was the significance of the militia bill?
- revolutionary because it directly question Charles’ prerogative powers and attempted to transfer these powers to Parliament
- politicians such as Pym hoped to use the anger of the London crowd to put pressure on MPs to pass the militia bill
- in response ; Charles presented himself as the defender of the “fundamental law”
- this won over constitutional royalists - such as Edward Hyde
37
What rumours began to circulate by the end of 1641?
- that members of the long parliament were planning to impeach the queen
- prompted Charles to make his decision to arrest the 5 members in January 1642
38
What was the January 1642 five members coup? (Armed coup)
- Charles announced the impeachment of his key opponents. Pym, hampden, haselrig, William strode and Edward montagu
- Charles was frustrated by popular demonstrations and forced to flee from the capital (the coup failed)
39
What’s was significant about the January 1642 five members coup?
- Pym could further utilise this coup to prove the dangers of Charles + that he could not be negotiated with
- the attempted coup also led to popular demonstrations against Charles - which compelled him to take his family from london to Hampton court for their safety
-by leaving the capital, Charles in effect gave control of London to parliament - but also made negotiations more difficult
40
What was the February 1642 exclusion bill?
- end of December 1641- a petition for the removal of bishops from Parliament had 30,000 signatures
- lord accepted the exclusion bill due to pressure from the London crowd - thus lessening the influence of the king on parliament
41
What was the militia ordinance of 1642?
- appointed lord lieutenants and their deputies by the authority of Parliament without royal assent
- named an ordinance rather than an act
- by this measure, Parliament assumed control of the armed forces
- to support this - Parliament propose raising £400,000 by ship money
42
How did Charles respond to the militia ordinance?
- Charles invoked a prerogative means of raising armed forces that was last used in the 1500s
- commissions of array were sent to leading figures in the counties to authorise them to raise forces for the crown
43
What did Charles try to do and fail in April 1642?
- seize munitions at Hull
44
What were the June 1642 nineteen propositions?
- an attempt at a negotiated settlement
- proposed that :
- all privy councillors had to be approved by parliament
- the 5 impeached MPs would be pardoned
- Charles had to accept the triennial and the militia ordinance rather than
- parliament would direct a reformation of the church
45
What was the answer of the royalist (and Charles) to the nineteen propositions?
- portrayed the king as the force that would prevent anarchy
- stated that parliament’s proposals would lead to a dark equal chaos of confusion in which the threat of popular rebellion was imminent
46
What was iconoclasm?
- the destruction or damaging of icons on church - associated with the laudian beauty of holiness
47
When did the first civil war break out?
August 1642 - Charles declared war on Parliament
