Heads of Proposals

The Heads of the Proposals was a set of propositions drawn up by officers of the New Model Army and submitted to King Charles I, independently of Parliament, as a basis for a constitutional settlement after the King's defeat in the First Civil War.

In consultation with Lord Saye-and-Sele, the proposals were drafted by Henry Ireton during the summer of 1647 when the Army was engaged in a political power struggle with Presbyterian MPs over the settlement of the nation. The proposals were termed the "Heads" to indicate that they were a broad outline, to be negotiated in detail later. The main points were:

Episcopacy would be retained in church government, but the power of the bishops would be substantially reduced. All Acts enforcing church attendance, the use of the Book of Common Prayer and the forbidding of holding religious meetings elsewhere would be repealed. The Covenant was to be revoked. The sitting Parliament was to set a date for its own termination. Thereafter, biennial Parliaments were to be called (i.e. every two years), which would sit for a minimum of 120 days and maximum of 240 days. Parliamentary constituencies were to be reorganised. A Council of State would be established to conduct foreign policy. It would need Parliament's approval to make war or seek peace. Parliament was to control the appointment of state officials and officers in the army and navy for ten years. No Royalists were to hold office, or stand for election, for at least five years. Although the Army proposals were more lenient than the terms offered in Parliament's Newcastle Propositions, the King regarded them as too restrictive and rejected them outright. During the negotiations, Ireton and Cromwell lost the support of the Army radicals, who were disappointed that the proposals made no concessions to Leveller demands for a wider franchise

	Date"Date" is a type and predefined property provided by Semantic MediaWiki to represent date values.
Act Abolishing the Office of King	17 March 1649
Army Remonstrance	18 November 1648
Civil War - Regicide	6 December 1648 30 January 1649
Civil War - Restoration	4 April 1660
Commissions of Array	1 June 1642
Execution of Archbishop William Laud	10 January 1645
Execution of Charles I	30 January 1649
Execution of Thomas Wentworth	12 May 1641
Four Bills	24 December 1647
Grand Remonstrance	22 November 1641
Heads of Proposals	22 September 1647
Instrument of Government	16 December 1653
Militia Ordinance	7 December 1641
Naseby	14 June 1645
National Covenant	27 February 1638
Newcastle Proposals	1 July 1646
Nineteen Propositions	1 June 1642
Petition of Right	7 June 1628
Petition of the Leveller Women	11 September 1649
Putney Debates	1 October 1647
Representation of the Army	5 June 1647
Root and Branch Petition	11 December 1640
Saffron Walden	1 May 1647
Scottish Prayer Book	23 July 1637
Short Parliament	13 April 1640
The Bishop's War	1 January 1639
The Five Members	4 January 1642
The Second Civil War	22 February 1648
The Self Denying Ordinance	19 December 1644
Treaty of Uxbridge	29 January 1645