The English Civil War or Wars because there were actually three started on 22 August 1642 and ended in 1651 with the Battle of Worcester.
With this year marking one hundred years since the end of the first World War the media has been full of stories about every aspect of that that tragic episode in mankind's history, the human element of personal loss and grief.
Mothers and Fathers that lost beloved Son's , whole groups of friends wiped out, and men maimed who would live for the rest of their lives both physically and mentally scarred,
The huge scale of loss has been one of the main focuses of the stories about the war and in truth they were appalling with battles such as Passchendale becoming infamous and for many a symbol of the folly of war.
What many people don't know is that English Civil War killed a higher proportion of the British population than any other. In the seven years between 1642 and 1649, an amazing 1 in 10 of the adult male population died,: more than three times the proportion that died in WWI and five times the proportion than in WWII.
The war set Brother against Brother and split the populace like no war before or since, and more than 190,000 people were killed during the course of a truly seismic event in our countries history, men, women and children died not only as a direct result of the fighting but from widespread disease and terrible living conditions.
Women became widows and men were maimed and rendered unable to work which basically condemned them and their families to poverty.
The toll was far worse in Ireland were around 600,000 people were killed because of famine, illness and disease, and atrocities were visited upon the civilian populace, this is still a topic of lively and sometimes heated debate to this day.
The causes of the War were a combination of many different things including two which are a common factor then and sadly will probably continue to be so far in our future, there is nothing like religion to whip people into a frenzy and truly evil acts were carried out in its name,
Religion
The people of England who were Protestant resented Henrietta Maria the Wife of Charles who was a Catholic and they believed she had a malign influence over him, this wasn't helped by the fact that some very well known courtiers converted to Catholicism. The Kings own religious practices were also a cause of concern, and so the religious element played a large part in the eventual outbreak of the war.
The Divine right to rule.
Charles 1 believed in the divine right of Kings to rule without question, in effect ruling with Gods authority.
This was a belief that the King had been chosen by God to rule and so by implication could not be wrong or his decisions questioned, as to do so would be considered a direct challenge to God.
On the other hand many wanted and believed the people should be represented by a Parliament whose function was to question and debate decisions then weigh up their benefit to the general populace, and so with two diametrically opposed idea's and intransigence on both sides confrontation was inevitable.
Money, as the saying goes, the root of all evil.
The King needed money to wage war, this led to a huge chasm between King and Parliament as Charles often had to go to them for money, without which his ability to fund his campaigns was nullified, that old friend of the powerful and bane of the weak, taxation was the potential answer to his dilemma.
This need for Parliament to do just as the King wished led him to lock the members of Parliament out of their own building.
The introduction of a ship tax across the country which had previously only been levied on coastal towns caused huge resentment,
The Kings reasoning was that everybody benefited from the navies protection so everyone should be expected to pay for this, not everybody, especially those in inland locations were in agreement.
With this year marking one hundred years since the end of the first World War the media has been full of stories about every aspect of that that tragic episode in mankind's history, the human element of personal loss and grief.
Mothers and Fathers that lost beloved Son's , whole groups of friends wiped out, and men maimed who would live for the rest of their lives both physically and mentally scarred,
The huge scale of loss has been one of the main focuses of the stories about the war and in truth they were appalling with battles such as Passchendale becoming infamous and for many a symbol of the folly of war.
What many people don't know is that English Civil War killed a higher proportion of the British population than any other. In the seven years between 1642 and 1649, an amazing 1 in 10 of the adult male population died,: more than three times the proportion that died in WWI and five times the proportion than in WWII.
The war set Brother against Brother and split the populace like no war before or since, and more than 190,000 people were killed during the course of a truly seismic event in our countries history, men, women and children died not only as a direct result of the fighting but from widespread disease and terrible living conditions.
Women became widows and men were maimed and rendered unable to work which basically condemned them and their families to poverty.
The toll was far worse in Ireland were around 600,000 people were killed because of famine, illness and disease, and atrocities were visited upon the civilian populace, this is still a topic of lively and sometimes heated debate to this day.
The causes of the War were a combination of many different things including two which are a common factor then and sadly will probably continue to be so far in our future, there is nothing like religion to whip people into a frenzy and truly evil acts were carried out in its name,
Religion
The people of England who were Protestant resented Henrietta Maria the Wife of Charles who was a Catholic and they believed she had a malign influence over him, this wasn't helped by the fact that some very well known courtiers converted to Catholicism. The Kings own religious practices were also a cause of concern, and so the religious element played a large part in the eventual outbreak of the war.
The Divine right to rule.
Charles 1 believed in the divine right of Kings to rule without question, in effect ruling with Gods authority.
This was a belief that the King had been chosen by God to rule and so by implication could not be wrong or his decisions questioned, as to do so would be considered a direct challenge to God.
On the other hand many wanted and believed the people should be represented by a Parliament whose function was to question and debate decisions then weigh up their benefit to the general populace, and so with two diametrically opposed idea's and intransigence on both sides confrontation was inevitable.
Money, as the saying goes, the root of all evil.
The King needed money to wage war, this led to a huge chasm between King and Parliament as Charles often had to go to them for money, without which his ability to fund his campaigns was nullified, that old friend of the powerful and bane of the weak, taxation was the potential answer to his dilemma.
This need for Parliament to do just as the King wished led him to lock the members of Parliament out of their own building.
The introduction of a ship tax across the country which had previously only been levied on coastal towns caused huge resentment,
The Kings reasoning was that everybody benefited from the navies protection so everyone should be expected to pay for this, not everybody, especially those in inland locations were in agreement.
Charles 1Charles was born on 19 November 1600, in Fife, Scotland. His mother was Anne of Denmark. His father was King James VI of Scotland, soon to be James I of England as well.
Charles start in life was not the best he could have had as he was a sickly, weak child. Not only did he have trouble learning to walk he also suffered from a stammer. He was by nature a shy and reserved person. Charles was classically educated and interested in the arts. Like his Ftahre before him he spent vast sums of money on musicians to entertain his court and buying works of art, a fact that would was a factor in his strained relationship with parliament. It was never his destiny to be King, but as often happens fate took a hand in matters and in 1612 his elder brother Henry died, leaving Charles as heir to the throne. |
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon on 25 April 1599. He was the only surviving son of Robert Cromwell (d. 1617) and his wife Elizabeth Steward (d. 1654). His family were local landowners and considered to be minor gentry.
Cromwell had his own problems as a young man which lead directly to his belief that his destiny had been decided by God. Cromwell attended the local grammar school and then went on to study at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. In August 1620, Oliver Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier, daughter of Sir James Bourchier a London merchant, at St Giles Church, Cripplegate in London. They were to have nine children, including Richard Cromwell, who succeeded Oliver as Lord Protector. Oliver Cromwell lived in Huntingdon, managing the family estate. He was a country gentleman with a modest income. Later they moved to a farm in St Ives. In 1628 Oliver Cromwell suffered what modern academics have interpreted as a bout of depression. It was around this time that Oliver Cromwell had his religious conversion to the Puritan faith. |
Places in Northamptonshire with links to the war
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Puritanism and the Iconoclast
www.dictionary.com/browse/iconoclast
Divine law as laid down in Scripture, above all in the Ten Commandments, prohibited false worship, everything that represented or smacked of idols, and the idol-service of banned or banished images. Objects and forms of behaviour that contravened the Decalogue prohibitions against serving other gods or worshipping images, must be done away.
The differences in how God was worshipped came to the fore during the time of the English Civil War, Puritanism was a religious reform movement and Puritans actively sought to literally purify the Church of England, this took the form of the removal anything connected with Roman Catholic popery. This was just a continuation of what had happened before during the time of the Reformation.
Stained Glass, alter rails, even the cross itself could fall under the banner of idolatry, and some particularly zealous Puritans took it upon themselves to remove these from church's or were actively encouraged to do so by those with similar beliefs.
A core tenet of Puritan belief was a one to one relationship between God and man, and that only a relationship like this could lead to redemption from sin.