Long Parliament and Civil War

• John Pym


  His faction was called "Pym's Junto"
• John Pym


  • Driven by religious fanaticism
  • Chief opponent to Charles
  • Resolute, serious puritan
• What Pym wanted


  • The king to be a puppet
  • Removal and punishment of Charles' councillors
  • A political settlement without the threat of being overturned by Charles
  • Removal of the threat of Catholic popery
  • Establish a "true religion" to get rid of popery and establish a truly protestant church that would strengthen England politically and lessen the chances of absolutism
• Initially Pym was not radical

  But became so during long parliament
• By 1641 many saw Pym as a dangerous radical who aligned himself with the London mob
• Pym played a major role in creating Royalist blacklist
• What Pym encouraged/wanted


  • Demonstrations at Westminster against bishops
  • Impeach Wentworth and Laud
  • Alliance with the Scottish Covenanters occupying northern England to protect the long parliament
  • Using parliamentary financial pressures to control Charles politically
  • Get parliament to transfer itself some of the key prerogative powers
• London Crowd


  London society members who favoured Parliament
• London Mob


  London society members who favoured Parliament
• 15,000 signed the Root and Branch Petition
• London crowd came out to defend the Tower of London


  1. In early May 1641

  2. Amid rumours of the royalist Army Plot to seize it and release Wentworth
• Common council


  London's system of local government
• Elections for the common council in December 1641 produced a more radical body that had support for Pym
• Radicals used the common council to put pressure on the lords to exclude bishops
• MAY 1641: ROOT AND BRANCH BILL


  A petition signed by 15,000 Londoners and presented to Parliament. Introduced by Cromwell. Puritan force behind it. Wanted a presbyterian church, end of bishops and episcopacy.

  In parliament they could not reach a consensus on religious reform, the debate divided parliament. Many saw getting rid of the church structure as undermining the whole of society. People could not agree on what to replace Laudianism with. The bill was defeated in August 1641; the lords rejected the idea of having no bishops.
• JUNE 1641: TEN PROPOSITIONS


  Was accepted by both Lords and Commons. Limited the royal protractive with things they knew Charles could never accept

   - control over his wife and reduce her Catholic circle

   - Parliament should choose the king’s counsellors

   - Parliament had control over religious education of royal children 
• GRAND REMONSTRANCE

  NOV 1641
• Pym's plan

  Use the Remonstrance to transfer control of the armed forces to Parliament by undermining confidence in the king and his ministers
• The Remonstrance

  • A long document listing grievances against the king's government
  • Rather than blaming the king himself, it emphasised the role of bishops, ministers and advisors
  • It was very anti-Catholic
• House of Commons

  Presented as the true defender of the king's rightful prerogative and the protestant faith
• The Remonstrance called for

  1. Setting up the Assembly of the Divines to supervise reform of the church

  2. Demanded the king's minister be approved by parliament
• The debate over the Remonstrance lasted 12 hours and parliament was very split, the bill just about passed (159 votes to 148)
• Many MPs left parliament because of the development of radicalism
• DECEMBER 1641: MILITIA BILL


  Forced MPs to take sides on who should command the army. It removed the king’s power over the trained bands completely and gave parliament the power to appoint army commanders. Proposed that parliament should be in control of the army, this questioned Charles’ royal prerogative. In response Charles made himself a defender of the “fundamental law.”