WEBVTT 1 00:00:19.079 --> 00:00:23.120 Hello, and welcome to Western SIEV Episode four hundred and sixty, 2 00:00:23.839 --> 00:00:29.760 The Bishop's War. In the middle of the trial of Hampden, 3 00:00:30.559 --> 00:00:34.759 on February the ninth, sixteen thirty eight, Charles issued a 4 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:39.399 proclamation to Scotland in which he stated that quote we 5 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:44.679 find our royal authority much impaired end quote. The King 6 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.840 went on to declare all protests against the New Prayer 7 00:00:47.880 --> 00:00:52.320 Book treasonable, and the King's response, of course, was characteristic. 8 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:56.600 Any attempt to curb his power he considered to be treachery, 9 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:01.039 and he believed that if he made any compromise or accommodation, 10 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:05.760 he would be fatally weakened in his position. In response, 11 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:09.920 the Commissioners, again who are basically the government of Scotland 12 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:14.719 back in Edinburgh, representing all the petitioners, drew up a 13 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:19.480 national covenant in which the precepts of the former Scottish 14 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:23.959 religion were re established. Among its declarations was one that 15 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.879 the innovations of the New Prayer Book quote do sensibly 16 00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:31.840 tend to the re establishing of the Popish religion and tyranny, 17 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:35.840 and to the subversion and ruin of the true Reformed 18 00:01:35.959 --> 00:01:42.680 religion and our liberties, laws and estates end quote. The 19 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:48.040 people in truth were not rebelling against the King per se, 20 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:51.840 but at the alliance of secular and religious authority that, 21 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:54.719 at least in their minds, he had come to represent. 22 00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:58.359 Now the people of Scotland took their lead from the 23 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:02.120 inhabitants of Edinburgh and signed the Covenant in the hundreds 24 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:05.799 of thousands, declaring that they would rather die than accept 25 00:02:05.799 --> 00:02:10.639 the new liturgy. Many of the orthodox Scottish bishops fled 26 00:02:10.680 --> 00:02:14.840 to England. The response to all of this across Europe 27 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:19.319 was mixed. Richelieu back in France, was inclined to support 28 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.199 and even aid the Scottish rebels, on the grounds that 29 00:02:22.280 --> 00:02:25.879 trouble for the English king was always welcome. In turn, 30 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.120 Charles did not wish the world to believe that his 31 00:02:28.159 --> 00:02:31.120 authority had been spurned by some of his subjects, especially 32 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:35.479 because all his life he feared looking weak. When the 33 00:02:35.520 --> 00:02:38.919 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met in Glasgow 34 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.520 Cathedral toward the end of November, the bishops were charged 35 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:47.000 with violating the boundaries of their proper authority. The voting, 36 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:50.439 of course, went very much against the orders and wishes 37 00:02:50.520 --> 00:02:54.280 of the King. For the next three weeks, the delegates 38 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:57.199 assembled there revised the whole form of the Scottish faith 39 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:00.879 which have been imposed upon them. That or jeep was 40 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:04.280 banned and abolished. The bishops who had been in charge 41 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:08.240 of doing that were excommunicated, and the King's writ of 42 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:13.400 law no longer ran in Scotland. As a consequence, the 43 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:18.680 preparations for war on both sides intensified. The Lord's Lieutenant 44 00:03:18.759 --> 00:03:21.960 of counties were ordered to organize and exercise their local 45 00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:26.400 militias in readiness for combat. The leaders of the Scots 46 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:30.919 in turn divided their country into seven military regions from 47 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:35.400 which recruits would be taken. The commissioners also requested that 48 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.120 the Scottish mercenaries fighting for the cause of Protestantism in 49 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:44.840 Germany should come home to fight in this war. Truly, 50 00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:48.280 the clouds of rebellion and war had begun to gather. 51 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.560 At the beginning of sixteen thirty nine, King Charles sent 52 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.080 out a summons for the soldiers of the Kingdom of 53 00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:16.920 England to meet him at York. The peers of the 54 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:20.480 Realm were ordered to appear in person, together with their retinues, 55 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:24.560 all of which befetted their status. It didn't go well. 56 00:04:25.160 --> 00:04:29.319 The men for example, raised from Herefordshire, attacked and wounded 57 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:33.079 their officers, betore returning to their towns and villages. Other 58 00:04:33.240 --> 00:04:36.639 conscripts proceeded to pillage the hamlets through which they passed. 59 00:04:37.160 --> 00:04:41.079 They tore down hated enclosures and parceled up previously common land. 60 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:44.839 They set fire to the jails and freed the prisoners, 61 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.759 many of whom had been detained for refusing to pay 62 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:52.680 local royal taxes. They attacked the undergraduates of Oxford University, 63 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.639 and the more precise of them attacked the altars and 64 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:59.959 communion rails of the churches. They were, as one Royalist commander, 65 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:03.920 Lord Conway put it, quote more fit for Bedlam or 66 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.120 bridewell end quote than the King's service. Even many of 67 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:10.839 the peers of the realm refused to show up. Many 68 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:14.839 pleaded sickness. They realized if the king lost, their lands 69 00:05:14.839 --> 00:05:17.319 and even their lives might not be spared by the Scots, 70 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:22.079 and if he won and Charles became supreme, their liberties 71 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:25.959 would be further at risk. Many believed that the war 72 00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:29.399 was being fought on behalf of the Episcopal church and 73 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:32.800 lawd and that his principal aim was to restore the 74 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:36.399 bishops to their authority in Scotland, and so the war 75 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:40.120 became known as the Bellum episcopal or the Bishop's War, 76 00:05:40.639 --> 00:05:44.319 and all the more hated because of it. Yet, truly, 77 00:05:44.360 --> 00:05:46.920 the war was all the more hated because it was 78 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:50.879 a break with the past. For the last almost ten 79 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:55.240 years England had been at peace. Things had gone well 80 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:58.600 for the nation during this period of personal rule. Now 81 00:05:58.639 --> 00:06:01.600 it was all coming crashing down. And it was the 82 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:04.439 resentment of this, perhaps more than anything else, that would 83 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:06.720 add fuel to the fire of everything that's going to 84 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.480 come afterwards. And the long period of peace also meant 85 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:16.879 that basically the instruments of war had long been degraded. Swords, muskets, pikes, 86 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:21.959 these were all tarnished, broken in disuse. Horses, in fact, 87 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:26.680 those for war were in short supply. Now Charles went 88 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:31.199 ahead anyway, and at the end of March sixteen thirty nine, 89 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:35.160 the king rode into York to meet his army. Here 90 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:40.040 he was graciously pleased to watch his cavaliers on their horses. 91 00:06:40.800 --> 00:06:45.319 The cavaliers were now a recognizable body of officers attached 92 00:06:45.319 --> 00:06:48.680 to the King's cause. Some of them were already professional 93 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:52.160 soldiers who had served in European wars, while others were 94 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:56.439 the sons of gentlemen in search of martial glory. Many 95 00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:01.680 of them, however, would earn a reputation as perhaps brave men, 96 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:07.199 but foolish ones, certainly anti Puritan bullies, given to heavy 97 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:11.519 consumption of alcohol and gambling. Now the king seems to 98 00:07:11.560 --> 00:07:15.879 have presumed, as the historian Clarendon put in his History 99 00:07:15.879 --> 00:07:18.879 of the Rebellion, that the calling together of the peers 100 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.759 of the realm with their retinues meant that quote the 101 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:24.680 glory of such a visible appearance of the whole nobility 102 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:29.399 would at once terrify and reduce the Scots end quote. 103 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.319 But if Charles's assumption was all he needed to do 104 00:07:32.519 --> 00:07:35.600 was show up with his army and the Scots would capitulate. 105 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:41.480 In that presumption, he was very very wrong. Now it 106 00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:43.360 was the talk of the city, and seems to have 107 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:47.199 generally been agreed in York that the peers had now 108 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:51.560 become martyrs to the King's will. Maybe Charles didn't understand 109 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:54.680 the gravity of the situation, but those who were about 110 00:07:54.680 --> 00:07:59.000 to fight on his behalf they certainly did. On May 111 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:02.399 the first, Charles and his army advanced to Durham, his 112 00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:05.560 envoys to Scotland, and now the commander of his ships, 113 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:09.199 the Marquis of Hamilton, wrote to him that quote, your 114 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:13.560 Majesty's affairs are in a desperate condition. The enraged people 115 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:16.240 here run to the height of rebellion and walk with 116 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:19.959 a blind obedience, as by their traitorous leaders they are commanded. 117 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.879 You will find it a work of great difficulty and 118 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:27.439 a vast expense to curb them by force, their power 119 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:31.920 being greater, their combination being stronger than can be imagined. 120 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:36.320 End quote. The Marquis of Hamilton, who was actually himself 121 00:08:36.360 --> 00:08:40.879 a Scot, declared of Scotland quote next to hell, I 122 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:45.000 hate this land. End quote. Now, of course, the problem 123 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:48.559 with all of this is that Charles couldn't afford a 124 00:08:48.600 --> 00:08:53.399 difficult war. In fact, Charles couldn't afford a war of 125 00:08:53.639 --> 00:08:58.519 any magnitude, and by the end of May, before his 126 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:02.679 troops had practically even breached the Scottish border, the Treasurer 127 00:09:02.759 --> 00:09:07.120 announced that the revenue of the Realm had been entirely exhausted. 128 00:09:08.000 --> 00:09:10.879 Charles hadn't even fought a battle, and he was out 129 00:09:10.879 --> 00:09:14.240 of money. And the Scots, well, they were already on 130 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:18.120 the move. They had a formidable army assembled. At the 131 00:09:18.120 --> 00:09:20.799 beginning of June, the Scots set up arm camp at 132 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:24.360 Kelso on the Scottish border. The King ordered the Earl 133 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:26.879 of Holland to march three thousand men to the north 134 00:09:26.919 --> 00:09:30.919 and drive them out. Holland advanced, and he was about 135 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:33.320 to order a charge when a cloud of dust could 136 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:36.960 be seen approaching very quickly. This was taken as evidence 137 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:39.759 of a larger Scottish army approaching, and so the English 138 00:09:39.840 --> 00:09:43.120 retreated in order. But the fiasco turned out to be 139 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:45.919 a double blow to the English forces. They had not 140 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:49.200 only been humiliated by the Scots, but the Scottish Lord 141 00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.360 General Alexander Leslie, seemed to know in advance the movement 142 00:09:53.399 --> 00:09:57.080 of Holland's men. This suggests strongly that the English had 143 00:09:57.080 --> 00:10:00.759 at least one traitor in their mists. On June the fifth, 144 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:04.279 Alexander Leslie arrived on the border the head of an 145 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:08.440 army of twelve thousand men, camped about eleven miles from 146 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:12.320 the King's position. The King was at this point in 147 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:15.399 no position to fight this Scottish army, and he had 148 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:18.360 to bide time to prepare more fully for the war 149 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:23.080 to come. The Scots, in turn, were reluctant to invade England. 150 00:10:23.679 --> 00:10:25.960 They feared that if they did so, they would simply 151 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.080 arouse the nation and turn the people against them, who 152 00:10:29.120 --> 00:10:31.879 seemed to be honestly on their side. At this point, 153 00:10:32.879 --> 00:10:37.120 Parliament could be called if England was invaded, and then 154 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:40.720 certainly the King would get everything that he wanted. It 155 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:44.480 could be a hard fight. So the conditions were honestly 156 00:10:44.559 --> 00:10:48.559 right on both sides for a truce and potentially at 157 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:52.519 least a brief treaty. On June eleventh, six commissioners from 158 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:56.039 the Scots and six commissioners from the King sat down 159 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:59.200 together at Berwick in the tent of the Earl of Arundel, 160 00:10:59.639 --> 00:11:03.720 Charles himself eventually joining them. Now, at this point they 161 00:11:03.759 --> 00:11:06.240 agreed to a treaty, but it's often been written of 162 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:10.240 this treaty that nobody meant what he said or said 163 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.480 what he meant. The treaty was merely a paper piece, 164 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:17.360 and within six months the antagonists were preparing for a 165 00:11:17.440 --> 00:11:21.440 greater conflict. The First Bishop's War, a war without a 166 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:24.519 single set piece battle, had technically come to an end. 167 00:11:25.559 --> 00:11:28.279 Charles the First had hoped to lead a glittering army 168 00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:31.360 to victory, but had instead been forced to come to 169 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:35.159 terms with a people that had, to all intents and purposes, 170 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:40.480 become a separate nation beyond his power to command. So 171 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:44.399 he disbanded the army now that he had assembled, without 172 00:11:44.440 --> 00:11:47.799 thinking of any of his commanders or how to properly 173 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:53.000 disband its men. Its commanders had undergone the sacrifice of 174 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:55.639 bringing up their men, without giving any honors to their 175 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:59.360 faithful followers. The Earl of Essex, one of the great 176 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:03.759 nobles whom the King distrusted, was dismissed without a word. 177 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:07.759 Soon enough, he would become one of the principal opponents 178 00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:12.480 of the king in the civil war to come. Meanwhile, 179 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:17.559 the propaganda war continued. The Scottish Covenanters proclaimed that in 180 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:21.480 maintaining their own rights, they were also fighting for English liberties. 181 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:25.879 They insinuated that the proscription or exclusion of their religion 182 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:29.080 would ineffably lead to the destruction of the cause of 183 00:12:29.080 --> 00:12:33.759 Puritanism also in England, and there were many who agreed 184 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:38.279 with them. The king had also lost authority on the 185 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:42.279 high seas. In the autumn of sixteen thirty nine, a 186 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:44.600 Spanish fleet had been discovered at the Channel by a 187 00:12:44.679 --> 00:12:48.399 Dutch squadron and after a hot pursuit, took refuge in 188 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:51.840 the Downs off the coast of Kent. Charles offered for 189 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.759 a large sum to take the Spaniards under his protection 190 00:12:55.080 --> 00:12:58.080 and convey them to the coast of Flanders, but the 191 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:01.720 Dutch were unwilling to give up the chase, and with reinforcements, 192 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:04.840 they attacked the Spanish vessels and sank many of them. 193 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:09.200 The English fleet, under the command of Viceroy Admiral Pennington, 194 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:13.200 merely looked on as the security of the home waters 195 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:18.080 of England was thoroughly violated by two different countries. The 196 00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:21.120 sea road to Dover was known as quote the King 197 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:25.159 of England's Imperial Chamber, but the king had failed to 198 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:29.639 protect it. The paralysis of Charles was a part of 199 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:34.840 a much wider problem of foreign policy, where because Charles 200 00:13:34.919 --> 00:13:38.000 had no money and was now preoccupied by the problem 201 00:13:38.039 --> 00:13:41.120 of Scotland, he was obliged to just try to play 202 00:13:41.159 --> 00:13:44.240 one party off against the other in the hope of 203 00:13:44.279 --> 00:13:49.399 something working out. France, Holland and Spain had to be 204 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:54.159 appeased equally, and there was only so long that Charles 205 00:13:54.279 --> 00:13:58.440 could pull off this dance before they realized the Emperor 206 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:02.720 has no clothes. On the twenty seventh of July, just 207 00:14:02.759 --> 00:14:06.919 before he left Berwick, Charles had summoned an emissary sent 208 00:14:06.960 --> 00:14:11.200 by Sir Thomas Wentworth from Ireland. They held a long 209 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:14.480 and secret conversation on matters that the King would not 210 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:18.879 confide to paper. Wentworth had already told the King that 211 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:22.679 he should conclude an armistice and postpone any attack upon 212 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:25.480 the Scots until he was quite certain that he could 213 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:29.279 defeat them. Charles now merely sent the message to the 214 00:14:29.320 --> 00:14:32.919 Lord Deputy saying, quote, come when you will, and you 215 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:36.960 shall be welcome end quote. The King was already scheming. 216 00:14:38.360 --> 00:14:41.399 Wentworth urged Charles to take the affairs of Scotland into 217 00:14:41.399 --> 00:14:44.639 his own hands, and in addition, to call Parliament in 218 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:47.840 order to be supplied with funds. The King, of course 219 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:52.519 distrusted and even despised the members of Parliament, but Wentworth 220 00:14:52.559 --> 00:14:55.480 believed that he could organize a court party which would 221 00:14:55.519 --> 00:14:59.399 be able to out maneuver any opposition. If the Members 222 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:02.320 of Common did not grant his demands in the face 223 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:06.600 of obvious danger from the Scots, then the world would 224 00:15:06.639 --> 00:15:11.399 know who to blame. Now. As a consequence, at the 225 00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:16.559 end of sixteen thirty nine, two important things happen. Parliament 226 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:20.679 was summoned and Wentworth was named the Earl of Stratford, 227 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:23.840 which is how I referred him from now on. The 228 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:28.080 King's councilors believed that the newly elected Parliament, shocked by 229 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.120 what had happened in Scotland, would rally around the King. 230 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:36.440 Now in this election for Parliament, only sixty two of 231 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:40.960 the parliamentary elections were contested. Other candidates were selected by 232 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:44.519 the principal landowners in the county and by the municipal 233 00:15:44.519 --> 00:15:47.879 corporations of the towns and cities, which shows you that 234 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:53.840 there was some expectation that parliament would be planned. Still, unfortunately, 235 00:15:54.159 --> 00:15:57.600 the outcomes from these elections were not positive. It has 236 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:01.519 been estimated that of the sixty or so candidates nominated 237 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:05.519 or supported by the Court faction, only fourteen were successful. 238 00:16:06.919 --> 00:16:09.519 It'd be fair to say, however, that the majority of 239 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:12.679 those elected were not partisan in any obvious sense. They 240 00:16:12.679 --> 00:16:15.600 were individuals who came to Westminster with a sense of 241 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:19.240 local complaints, and who, when congregated together, might find that 242 00:16:19.240 --> 00:16:22.000 they had grievances in common. That was the most that 243 00:16:22.039 --> 00:16:26.279 could be expected. Preparations for another war against Scotland were 244 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.080 actually already afoot. It was intended to press into service 245 00:16:30.519 --> 00:16:34.120 thirty thousand foot soldiers from counties south of the Umber River, 246 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:39.240 the northern counties having given service in the last war. Meanwhile, 247 00:16:39.639 --> 00:16:43.440 the Covenanters were equally active in Scotland, where a call 248 00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.360 to arms was about to be issued. It did not 249 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:51.120 seem possible that war could be avoided, and so the 250 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:55.320 newly elected Parliament opened on April thirteenth, sixteen forty, in 251 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:59.279 an era of great excitement. A bill had already been 252 00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:02.840 prepared with all the relevant measures in place, and it 253 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.759 was only necessary for Parliament to pass it and the 254 00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:09.839 war with Scotland would begin. It was declared that then 255 00:17:09.920 --> 00:17:12.279 and only then, after they had passed the essential bill, 256 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:19.039 would the grievances of the individual members of Parliament be discussed. Unfortunately, 257 00:17:19.960 --> 00:17:24.359 Parliament had a different plan. On the first day of 258 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:28.480 the session, the Earl of Northumberland wrote that quote there, 259 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:32.319 and we're talking about members of Parliament. Jealousies and suspicions 260 00:17:32.359 --> 00:17:35.799 appear on every occasion, and I fear they will not 261 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:39.799 readily be persuaded to believe the fair and gracious comments 262 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.759 and promises made to them by the king end quote. 263 00:17:44.920 --> 00:17:47.640 And so it was on April seventeenth that a member 264 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.400 of Parliament stood really for the first major time, to 265 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:55.720 speak on the nature of parliamentary authority. His name was 266 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:59.960 John him he's going to be important in our story 267 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:03.759 from here on out, so don't forget his name. He 268 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:08.079 declared that quote, the powers of Parliament are to the 269 00:18:08.119 --> 00:18:12.680 body politic as the rational faculties of the soul to 270 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:16.960 man end quote. On the twenty first of April, the 271 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:20.720 King summoned both houses of Parliament to Whitehall and demanded 272 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:25.000 the financial subsidies be granted to him. Two days later, 273 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:28.079 the Commons went into committee and requested a conference with 274 00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:31.839 the Lords on the grounds that quote, until the liberties 275 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:35.079 of the House and Kingdom are cleared, they knew not 276 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.240 whether they had anything to give or know end quote. 277 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:43.559 Charles was furious at this clear act of defiance. On 278 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:46.799 May the first, the Commons decided by a large majority 279 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.039 to call before them at cleric, who had stated that 280 00:18:49.079 --> 00:18:52.039 the King had the authority to make laws without parliament. 281 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:57.160 This was considered by Charles's court yet another act of insubordination. 282 00:18:58.359 --> 00:19:01.160 On the following day, the Kingdom manned an immediate answer 283 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:04.119 to his request for money, he was met with yet 284 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:08.920 again more prevarication. On May the fourth, Charles sent another 285 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:10.960 message in which he agreed to give up the collection 286 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:14.079 of ship money in the future in return for twelve 287 00:19:14.279 --> 00:19:17.759 subsidies amounting to approximately eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds. 288 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:21.839 The Committee of the Commons again broke up without reaching 289 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:28.480 any definitive conclusions. One of the royal councilors, Sir Henry Vane, 290 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:30.799 told the King that there was no hope that they 291 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:35.160 would quote give one penny and now here I want 292 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:40.000 to quote directly from Peter Aykroyd in his book Rebellion Quote. 293 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.799 It had become apparent, at least to the court party, 294 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:46.880 that the Commons had no real desire to support the 295 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:51.359 King's war against Scotland. It might even have supposed that 296 00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:55.400 they were leaning towards the Scottish covenanters. The King had 297 00:19:55.440 --> 00:19:59.960 asked for supplies five times, and five times had been rebuffed. 298 00:20:00.519 --> 00:20:03.680 He had twice appeared in person, to no palpable effect. 299 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.920 He had tried to negotiate, but his offers had been 300 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:11.240 rejected with silence. He had pressed for speed in their decisions, 301 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.119 with the possibility of an immediate invasion from the north, 302 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:20.519 but Parliament had been dilatory and evasive end quote. Now, 303 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:23.119 Rumors reached the King at this point that a petition 304 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:27.079 was being drawn up by Parliament at the influence of 305 00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:30.359 John Pim asking him to come to terms with the Scots, 306 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:34.519 and so he summoned the Speaker of Parliament and forbid 307 00:20:34.599 --> 00:20:36.680 him to take his place on the following day, thus 308 00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:39.480 avoiding the possibility of any debate, because you can't debate 309 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.359 without the speaker in his chair. He then hurried to 310 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:45.480 the lords and on May the fifth summarily dissolve parliament. 311 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:48.839 This has become known in history as the stillborn, or 312 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:53.799 more often short Parliament. One newly elected member of Parliament, 313 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.759 Edward Hyde, who would later become known as Lord Clarendon, 314 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.519 was furious. He supported the King, but he just didn't 315 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:03.039 know what the future would hold for him. He wrote 316 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:05.440 later that one of the leaders of the parliamentary revolt 317 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.400 all over Sinjin, bid him be of good comfort, for 318 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:12.279 things would have to get worse before they got better. 319 00:21:13.240 --> 00:21:15.440 But there was another member of Parliament there that day 320 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:19.759 that's worth reflecting on. For the first time this man 321 00:21:19.759 --> 00:21:22.839 came into the House of Parliament that same year, Sir 322 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:26.960 Philip Warwick wrote of him, quote, I perceived a gentleman 323 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:31.200 whom I knew not very ordinarily appareled. For it was 324 00:21:31.279 --> 00:21:34.000 plain cloth suit that seemed to have been made by 325 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:37.480 an ill country tailor. His linen was plaid and not 326 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:41.640 very clean. I remember a speck or two of blood 327 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:45.039 upon the little band, which was not much larger than 328 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:48.960 his collar. His hat was without a hat band. His 329 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:52.480 stature was of good size, his swords stuck close to 330 00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:57.880 his side, his countenance swollen and reddish, his voice sharp 331 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:04.200 and untuneable, his eloquence full of fervor. Quote. The young 332 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:07.200 man who is described here in this image is a 333 00:22:07.240 --> 00:22:11.519 young man named Oliver Cromwell. You're going to want to 334 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:15.599 remember that name too. On the afternoon of the Disillusion, 335 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:18.920 the King's Council met, in which the newly ennobled Earl 336 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:22.079 of Stratford, according to notes taken at the time, advise 337 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:24.720 the King to quote go on with a vigorous war 338 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:28.000 as you first designed, loosed and absolved from all rules 339 00:22:28.039 --> 00:22:31.640 of government, being reduced to the extreme necessities, everything is 340 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:34.759 to be done that power must admit end quote, And 341 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:38.359 he reminded him quote, you have an army in Ireland 342 00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:43.039 you may employ here to reduce this kingdom. End quote. 343 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:45.720 The Earl of Stratford is going to come to regret that, 344 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.480 because it was left unclear as to which kingdom he 345 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:53.079 was talking about, England or Scotland. Now, many in London 346 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.920 elsewhere were ready to condemn the king and his counselors 347 00:22:56.559 --> 00:22:59.880 principle among them, of course, Stratford and the Archbishop Loud. 348 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.319 On the seventh of May, two days after the disillusion 349 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:06.640 of Parliament, the Lord Mayor of London and his Aldermen 350 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:08.920 were summoned before the Council in order to provide the 351 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:12.000 King with a forced loan of two hundred thousand pounds. 352 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:15.839 If they refused, they were to return three days later 353 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:18.440 with a list of the wealthiest Londoners who could then 354 00:23:18.519 --> 00:23:22.680 furnish the funds. On May tenth, they came back with 355 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:27.319 no list, and ultimately the King did not execute the 356 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:31.039 four aldermen, but did commit them to prison. This added 357 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:33.559 more fuel to the fire that was about to break 358 00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:36.920 out on the streets. A force of five hundred people 359 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:40.240 attempted on the night of May eleventh to storm the 360 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:44.640 Archbishop's palace. The protesters were often driven off, but it 361 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:48.240 was the beginning, not the end of the confrontations. The 362 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:52.279 anger against the archbishop was augmented by the deliberations of 363 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:55.680 a convocation going on at the same time. It turns out, 364 00:23:55.920 --> 00:24:00.319 of course, this body of high clergy also met always 365 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:02.960 met at the time of Parliament, but on this occasion 366 00:24:03.400 --> 00:24:08.240 it wasn't dissolved after the abrupt conclusion of the short session. 367 00:24:08.799 --> 00:24:11.680 It continued to meet, granted a subsidy to the King, 368 00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:15.960 and announced seventeen new canons that exalted the sovereign's power. 369 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:19.359 It was ordered that four times each year the clergy 370 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:22.039 should preach to their congregation on the theme of divine 371 00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:25.279 right of kings. It was further declared that all of 372 00:24:25.319 --> 00:24:28.000 the clergy must take an oath to maintain both the 373 00:24:28.039 --> 00:24:31.640 doctrine and discipline of the Church, and not to allow 374 00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:36.319 any alteration in its government by archbishops, bishop's deans, anyone's. 375 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.759 This became known derisively as the etc Oath. How could 376 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:44.680 clerics obey a ruling of which the contents were so 377 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:49.400 uncertain without the assent of Parliament? In any case, everyone 378 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:53.880 believed that these decrees were simply illegal. When the Chancellor 379 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:56.960 of the Bishop of London entered one church to exact 380 00:24:56.960 --> 00:25:00.519 the oath with a great mace carried before him. Passerby 381 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:02.880 stopped him with the words quotes I cared nothing for 382 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.960 you nor for your art to choke. The Scots heard 383 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:11.240 of the news in England, and they were ecstatic. A 384 00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:14.880 parliament met in Edinburgh, its members now believing that the 385 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:18.039 people of England were no longer inclined to support their king, 386 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:21.799 and so they passed into law a number of acts 387 00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:27.319 without royal assent. It was, in essence a declaration of war. 388 00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:32.720 Yet what could Charles do. He had formed no fresh army, 389 00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:35.680 and the troops still courted at Newcastle after the last 390 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:40.839 conflict were untrained and impoverished. Once more, the king demanded 391 00:25:40.839 --> 00:25:43.839 ship money from London. The sheriffs went from house to 392 00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:48.160 house to exact the tax, but crazily, and this is true, 393 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:51.319 only one man in all of the city of London 394 00:25:51.960 --> 00:25:56.079 agreed to pay it. Schemes for loans that they might 395 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:59.880 get from France and from the bankers at Genoa ultimately 396 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:04.079 came to nothing. The laborers and craftsmen of England were 397 00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:07.519 again pressed into service in the King's army for a 398 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:12.559 cause about which they knew or cared very little. News 399 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:16.279 of the disorder came from most of the southern counties, 400 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:19.400 and one of the first open mutinies broke out in Warwickshire. 401 00:26:20.039 --> 00:26:23.240