English Civil War

• Charles I strongly believed in the Divine Right of Kings.
• Divine Right of Kings = God chose him to be King
• Charles was also well known to be stubborn, rarely listened to people who disagreed with him, and had very obvious favourites.
• Charles had expensive tastes and spent thousands. However, the King’s money came from taxes which could only be increased if Parliament agreed.
• Charles dissolved (got rid of) Parliament for ten years because they wouldn’t follow his commands, so he had to find the money in other ways. He forced people to lend money to him, and threw them in prison if they refused.
• He also introduced ‘Ship Money’ tax, the only tax he could raise without Parliament. It was only supposed to be raised in wartime, and there was no war at that point, which made him very unpopular. 
• Most people in England were Protestant, and Charles was behaving more and more like a Catholic.
• He insisted that churches should be decorated like Catholic churches, introduced a new prayer book, which seemed very Catholic in style, and appointed Catholics as his advisors.
• Charles married a French Catholic Princess, Henrietta Maria. This worried Protestants as she would have too much influence over him. 
• Charles believed he had the right to rule alone.
• Between 1641-2, Parliament demanded to be involved in decisions and laws, not just approving taxes. Frustrations increased when Charles dissolved Parliament, and continued even when it was reopened in 1642.
• The English Civil War was fought by the Roundheads (Parliamentarians) who supported Parliament, and Cavaliers (Royalists) who supported Charles.
• Charles gave army leadership roles to his friends or relatives, regardless of if they would be good at the job.
• However, after 1645, Parliament made the Self Denying Ordinance which banned any member of Parliament from leading the army, unless they were appointed after clear military skill had been shown. Soldiers were also well trained and well paid with Parliament.
• Despite not taking the title of king, Cromwell had many similar powers.
• He was not elected into his position, largely made decisions on his own and was replaced by his son.
• In 1649, Cromwell destroyed the Irish town of Drogheda to establish his control in Ireland, slaughtering more than 2000 men, women and children.
• Jews had been exiled from England during the Middle Ages. Cromwell allowed Jews back into England for the first time in 400 years even though his advisors said this was wrong. 
• Parliament had full control of England in 1649.
• On 20 April 1653 Cromwell led the army into Parliament and forcibly dissolved it.
• In July 1653, Cromwell created the Nominated Assembly, with 144 hand-picked Members. However, Cromwell continued to be angry at their lack of cooperation and dislike of the Army.
• On 12 December 1653, general John Lambert led a group of Army supporters to vote to dissolve the Parliament. Lambert suggested that all power should be given to "a single person and a Parliament". Oliver Cromwell, was made Lord Protector of the Realm four days later.
• Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 and was replaced by his son, Richard Cromwell.
• Richard was not a strong leader and the army didn’t trust him as he lacked experience.
• In 1660, Richard feared there would be an uprising from the army so he resigned as Lord Protector and invited Charles II (Charles I’s son) to come back to rule as King, although with less power than his father.