The emergence of a Royalist party

Question 1

What three things did the radicalists want?

Answer 1

1. To remove the last vestiges of popery seen in the church. 2. The establish a godly preaching ministry. 3. To allow some deviation from the prayer book.

Question 2

Why did bishops become more unpopular?

Answer 2

They had supported the laudian innovations and given their support to the Royal prerogative. There was also pressure from the Scots to abolish the episcopacy.

Question 3

What did the majority of the population want?

Answer 3

A middle way between laudianism and Puritanism, there were fears that the destruction of bishops would undermine the whole of social order and other forms of authority.

Question 4

How did Charles make the situation in 1641 worse?

Answer 4

He made no secret of his desire to regain power, Henrietta Maria was working to try to get assistance from foreign Catholic powers.

Question 5

What were the consequences of the abolition of the court of high commission?

Answer 5

There was no effective censorship, there was a flood of offensive pamphlets attacking bishops and extremism grew even more.

Question 6

What two important gestures did Charles make in 1641?

Answer 6

1. He appointed an enemy of land, john Williams, as archbishop of York. 2. He wrote to the lords to reassure them of his commitment to the church of England.

Question 7

What did parliament set up owing to Charles going to Scotland?

Answer 7

Two committees, one to oversee his actions in Scotland and one to conduct business whilst parliament was on recess.

Question 8

What mistake did Charles make in Scotland?

Answer 8

He agreed that the Scottish parliament would have control of appointments, then he went and appointed a royalist as chancellor.

Question 9

Describe ‘the incident’.

Answer 9

A shadowy plot to assassinate the leaders of the Covenanters. The plot failed and it is unknown how much Charles knew of it. He made the situation worse by arriving to parliament to retest his innocence with several hundred armed men.

Question 10

When did the Irish rebellion begin?

Answer 10

November 1641, Strafford’s absence had led to the breakdown in the alliance that had existed against him. The Catholics rebelled in a bid to bring an administration more sympathetic to Catholics.

Question 11

What three did the Irish rebels want?

Answer 11

1. Parliamentary independence under the crown. 2. Security of title to lands. 3. Freedom of worship.

Question 12

Give three consequences of the Irish rebellion on England

Answer 12

1. Stories of atrocities, such as the massacre of 200,000 Protestants began to circulate. 2. Irish leader O’Neill falsely claimed he has the king’s backing, it didn’t matter that this was false, people did not trust Charles. 3. Normal parliamentary government broke down as parliament debated how best to defend England.

Question 13

What problem arose owing to the Irish rebellion?

Answer 13

All agreed that an army was needed to crush the Irish, but the issue was who would lead it. It was tradition that the king would, but many did not trust the king.

Question 14

What measure did parliament rush through?

Answer 14

One giving them control over the army, it passed by only 41 votes and the earl of Essex was put in charge of trained bands south of the river Trent.

Question 15

When did Pym table the grand remonstrance?

Answer 15

November 1641, it contained all he thought was wrong with royal government. It passed by only 11 votes.

Question 16

What did moderates think of the grand remonstrance?

Answer 16

They felt Pym was going too far, they had passed enough acts to ensure personal rule never occurred again, now the radicals were pushing for too much reform.

Question 17

What did Pym propose was done with the grand remonstrance?

Answer 17

He proposed that it be printed, appealing directly to the people was a huge break from precedent and caused more moderates to flock to the side of Charles.

Question 18

How did Charles take advantage of the situation?

Answer 18

He used the chaos to paint himself as the only person who could defend fundamental law, it was clear that support for him was growing in the commons and lords.

Question 19

What happened with the bishops?

Answer 19

In October, commons had excluded all bishops from the lords, something the lords refused to accept, but angry mobs were used to stop bishops from attending debates.

Question 20

What happened when the bishops returned?

Answer 20

When bishops returned in December, they protested that all actions in their absence were void. This annoyed Pym and he had 12 of them impeached and imprisoned. Charles decided the time had come to act.