How the Parliamentarians Won the First Civil War

Precursor to War

The king's aborted attempt to arrest five MP's set off a chain of events that led to the first civil war. The King left London and finally settled in Oxford. Queen Henrietta fled back to France. Almost immediately petitions were being raised in the shires pledging support to Parliament. Parliament capitalized on their popularity by executing the Militia Ordinance organizing a militia and putting it under Parliament's control. Parliament went further with the Nineteen Propositions. These were framed as being a moderate set of proposals but reduced the role of the king to mere ceremony. Not only that Charles 1 noted that it did not just apply to him but to his successors.

Parliament was no longer tolerating dissent. Edward Dering was expelled from the commons for supporting episcopacy. Kentish gentlemen who expressed moderate opposition to the Militia Ordinance were impeached.

The king had little military support at this time. Maybe as little as 800 cavalry but there was still considerable support for the monarchy even if it was lukewarm for Charles himself. John Pym was starting to lose popularity. The Root and Branch petition evoked opposition. Sir Thomas Ashton organized two pro-episcopacy petitions and published the Remonstrance against Presbytery

The kernel of the arguments against abolishing episcopacy was the rubbish of chaos that could replace it, at least in the short run. This conjunction of traditional legal and maintenance of social order dominated the spring and summer of 1642. Pym's continued encouragement of popular participation filled many with trepidation especially given the evidence that popular uprisings could get out of hand. The Irish Rebellion had led to atrocities committed against protestants and riots in England were not unknown. Many raised the spectre of Wat Tyler or Jack Cade. Parliamentarians took a relaxed view of the riots. They were "'honest inhabitants who were providing very acceptable services to the commonwealth

MP's were often caught between a rock and a hard place. Thomas Knyvett was on one day given a parliamentary commission to take command of an infantry and later read a royal proclamation denouncing the Militia Ordinance. The king followed up with his own army raising decree called the Commission of Array. This was carefully worded as not a call to arms to defend an (unpopular) king but to secure peace in the country, deter foreign invasion and quell insurrection in the country.

MP's took up that theme, professing that they wanted to preserve peace. It was a difficult concept to sell. Trying to raise an army, not to fight a war and not to change the status quo is a difficult rallying call to arms. On the other hand, the Parliamentarians could appeal to peoples religious convictions; that the king was being duped by papists and that the Irish Rebellion could spread to England. The atrocities as bad as they were, were played up to the press and hardened peoples' attitudes. There were charismatic leaders supporting the Parliamentarian cause, such as the Earl of Warwick. Location played a significant role also. London and the South East were hard-line parliamentarian supporters and allowed to dissent amongst its population.