Civil War, English

Conflict between King Charles I and the Royalists (also called Cavaliers) on one side and the Parliamentarians (also called Roundheads) on the other. Their differences centred initially on the king's unconstitutional acts, but later became a struggle over the relative powers of crown and Parliament. Hostilities began in 1642 and a series of Royalist defeats (at Marston Moor in 1644, and then at Naseby in 1645) culminated in Charles's capture in 1647, and execution in 1649. The war continued until the final defeat of Royalist forces at Worcester in 1651. Oliver Cromwell then became Protector (ruler) from 1653 until his death in 1658.

Causes
Charles I became the king of Great Britain and Ireland in 1625, and quickly became involved in a number of disputes with Parliament. These led to the latter's dissolution in 1629, after which Charles ruled absolutely for 11 years, the Eleven Years' Tyranny. By 1639, people had many reasons to be angry with Charles: his belief in the divine right of kings; his spending – Charles was an art collector, and lavished money on his court and his favourites; his creation of monopolies as a form of patronage; his levies of ship money for the support of the navy; and his use of the Star Chamber court to suppress the Puritans and make judgements in his favour. His officials and associates were also unpopular. Strafford, Charles's advisor and lord deputy in Ireland, was using the army to enforce royal rule ruthlessly in Ireland (see Ireland: history 1603–1782, Protestant settlement and the rule of Strafford). The Puritans felt threatened by Charles's deputy, Archbishop William Laud, who had brought Arminianism into the Church of England, new ideas that emphasized links with the pre-Reformation church. Charles's Catholic wife Henrietta Maria was also disliked, as she encouraged him to aid Catholics and make himself an absolute ruler.

In 1639, however, war was declared with Scotland, the first of the Bishops' Wars over Charles's attempts to impose royal control over the church in Scotland. In 1640, Charles called the Short Parliament in order to raise funds. His request for war taxes was refused, and the Parliament was quickly dissolved, but, after defeat in Scotland in the second Bishops' War (1640), Charles called the Long Parliament of 1640. The members of Parliament (MPs) were determined (in the words of the leader John Pym) ‘to make their country happy by removing all grievances’. The Long Parliament imprisoned Laud, declared extra-parliamentary taxation illegal, and voted that Parliament could not be dissolved without its own assent. In November 1641 Parliament presented the Grand Remonstrance – a list of complaints. In January 1642 Charles tried to arrest the five parliamentary leaders who, he said, had ‘traitorously tried to take away the King's royal power’. When this failed, the king went north to Nottingham, where he declared war against Parliament on 22 August 1642.