The Parliament
...the effort.
Although officially ruled by the King, Parliament was
increasing it's power so rapidly that by the 1600s it could
no longer be relied on to do what the King wanted. King
Charles 1st came into conflict with his Parliament in 1629
when he ordered Parliament to raise taxes and it refused.
His response was to abolish Parliament and he ruled
Parliament on his own for 11 years. However, the people
didn't support him and he ran short of money so he had to
reinstate Parliament in 1640.
However, conflict broke out again in 1642 when Charles
tried to have 5 members of Parliament arrested who had
been actively disagreeing with his policies. The MPs fled
into the back of the streets of London but when the King
went after them, the citizens expelled him angrily from their
city. This was a direct violation by the people of the
supreme power of the King and marked the beginning of
the English Civil War.
Those English who supported the King (the Cavaliers) had
support in north England and Wales and the
parliamentarians (Roundheads) had support in the rest of
England. Despite the fairly even start, however, the
Cavaliers were fought back and in 1646 the Roundheads
forced the King to surrender. However, at the cease fire
negotiations Charles would not agree to the Roundhead
terms and after a stalemate the war erupted again in 1648.
Once again the Cavaliers were defeated but this time he
Roundheads did not accept a surrender and instead
captured the and executed Charles in 1649. England now
had no King. For the next 11 years was a Republic. It was
ruled from 1633 to 1658 by a general named Oliver
Cromwell, who was a fundamental Protestant but an
extremely cruel man. He was given the title Lord Protector
of the Commonwealth of England', but he had been active
in Ireland long before he undertook that role.
In 1641, just before the...
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