Failure to Compromise (1640-49) + Republican Gov (1653-1660)

• The Long Parliament


  The parliament summoned in November 1640, called long because it was not officially dissolved until March 1660
• Pym's Junto


  The group of MPs that organised the Long Parliament's opposition strategy to the king, led by John Pym, John Hampden, and Arthur Haselrig
• Act of Attainder

  An act that could be passed by parliament that declared someone guilty of treason without the need for a trial
• Presbyterian


  A type of Protestant church that doesn't have any bishops in its structure, instead governed by an assembly of elders or other officials
• Moderate


  A politician or individual who does not have extreme or radical views, usually related to politics or religion
• Grievance theme (e.g. finance; religion; advisers; foreign policy; parliament)
• Impeachment proceedings begun against the king's evil counsellors' Laud and Wentworth (now the Earl of Strafford)


  November 1640
• King agrees to remove bishops from the Privy Council


  January 1641
• The Triennial Act passed through Parliament and was agreed by Charles


  February 1641
• A bill to completely exclude bishops from the House of Lords was proposed


  May 1641
• A Root and Branch Bill proposed to abolish bishops completely and make the Church of England a Presbyterian church


  June 1641
• The Ten Propositions were proposed by Parliament, mainly in response to Charles's plan to visit Scotland to make peace


  June 1641
• The prerogative courts of Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission were abolished


  July 1641
• An act was passed that declared Ship Money to be illegal


  August 1641
• MPs knew that criticising the king directly was dangerous, and blaming his advisers was a sound tactic
• Strafford's impeachment ran into difficulties since he had been charged with treason, but had clearly been carrying out the king's orders
• An Act of Attainder was passed, which simply declared Strafford guilty
• The Triennial Act said that Parliament would be called at least every three years, even if the king had not called
• The Root and Branch Bill passed the House of Commons but was rejected by the House of Lords
• The Ten Propositions aimed to prevent Charles from building up support in Scotland and using a Scottish army to threaten parliament
• The prerogative courts of Star Chamber and the Court of High Commission were abolished, removing the king's ability to deal with legal cases directly through his prerogative powers
• The act declaring Ship Money to be illegal helped to ensure the king could not use it as a regular source of income, making Personal Rule more difficult
• The Long Parliament made great strides in reversing the machinery of Personal Rule, but there were ominous signs for the unity of the opposition
• The execution of Strafford left the king angry and humiliated and probably extremely hostile to the MPs who had forced him into this position
• There were indications that parliamentary unity was beginning to crack, with the point of disagreement being religion
• A rebellion in Ireland in October 1641 aroused panic amongst MPs and people alike, with the Irish rebels claiming to have Charles's approval
• Parliament now had a dilemma - they wanted to put down the Irish rebellion but were mistrustful of the king and what he would do with an army
• Pym presented the king with the Grand Remonstrance, which narrowly passed the House of Commons by only 11 votes, showing the level of division in parliament
• A Militia Bill was then presented to MPs proposing that parliament should control the army sent to fight in Ireland, causing open revolt and many MPs openly supporting the king
• In January 1642, it was rumoured that Pym planned to impeach the Queen, and on the 4th January, Charles appeared in the House of Commons with 300 armed guards to arrest five key opposition leaders
• Charles's action seemed to reveal that he was a tyrant, and turned many MPs against him
• On the 10th January, fearing for his safety, the king left the capital and moved the court to York, making it obvious that two sides existed - the king and parliament - and the probability of both using force to achieve their goals was no longer in doubt
• In June 1642 parliament offered the king Nineteen Propositions for negotiation, including parliamentary control of the king's advisers and of the army, which Charles did not accept
• In August 1642, at Nottingham, Charles raised his standard, and the Civil War had begun
• During 1642-43, the Royalists held the upper hand, with Charles's nephews Prince Rupert and Maurice leading Royalist forces bravely and competently
• Pym worked hard to maintain parliamentary unity in spite of the desire of many MPs to make peace as quickly as possible
• Pym's final act was to persuade the House of Commons to sign the Solemn League and Covenant with the Scots, bringing them into the war to support Parliament in the north of the country
• The Scottish army won a crucial victory at Marston Moor in July 1644
• The New Model Army was created, a force of 22,000 men led by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, which secured parliamentary victory
• Charles surrendered to the Scottish army in April 1646