Why Did the English Civil War Begin Essay Example for Free

Why Did the English Civil War Begin Essay This essay will discuss a balanced argument on how the English Civil War began and who was responsible for it. The war was between King Charles I and Parliament. The winners in the end were Parliament on the 3rd of September 1651, when Parliament defeated Charles’ army. This will also include the 4 main factors, which were Power; Money; Religion and also King Charles’ personality. To begin with, some people believe that the worst reason why the Civil War started because of religion. Charles’ reign got off to a bad start, so he decided to marry a French princess catholic called, Henrietta Maria. This was very unpopular with Parliament. The Scots hated the new prayer book and decided to go to rebel against Charles. In the 1630s, King Charles I and Archbishop Laud made some changes to the Church of England. They claimed they tried to make it better, and believed that people would feel closer to God if churches were beautiful and decorated. But they were wrong. The idea made a lot of people annoyed with Charles, especially the Puritans. Henrietta Maria actually had her own chapel and priest, so maybe King Charles I was Catholic. Charles was responsible for it and King Charles was to blame for the cause of the war because of how he tried to change the Church of England. Secondly, it could be said that Money was a problem for Charles. We know that this was true because Charles had left Parliament and went out by himself, so he had to find a new way of raising money. Charles started wars often and practically lost all of them and this was costing him money. However, he did find a new way of getting money by having a thing called ‘Ship Money’. The money was used to improve the navy ships, but only counties on the coast would pay the ‘Ship Money’. King Charles I in 1634 asked the counties on the coast for the money; however the navy didn’t really need improving! In 1635, the following year, Ship Money needed to be demanded from the inland counties as well. It looked like Charles was going to make it permanent, which means it would have to be paid every year. Another way of finding out if tax was popular is that you know if people pay it or not. This then made Parliament very angry and I think Charles was convinced people weren’t paying, therefore he began the Civil War and he was responsible. Thirdly, it is true to say that Charles’ power was a long-term problem. In 1642, Charles attempted to arrest 5 MP’s, which makes the House of Commons very angry. The MP’s never trusted Charles and though the he planned to get rid of Parliament again after 2 years coming back with Parliament, which would mean he would rule by himself once again. In the early months of 1642, Charles most definitely convinced the MPs that this was what he was certainly planning. Charles charged into the House of Commons with 400 of his soldiers and demanded that five leading MPs were to be handed over for arrest. Luckily, the MPs had been warned and already fled to their boat down by the River Thames. They were then protected by the Council of London and treated like big heroes. Lastly, Charles’ personality wasn’t good. Charless personality as a politician was shaped by a difficult childhood. He was born on 19 November 1600, the third child of James VI of Scotland and his wife Anne of Denmark. During his early years he suffered from a combination of poor health and lack of parental affection. When he moved to England after Jamess accession in 1603 it was difficult to find a noble family to look after him because of fears that he might die on their hands; and he grew up very much in the shadow of his glamorous elder brother Prince Henry and his sister Elizabeth. People didn’t like Charles’ personality and therefore made him start the English Civil War. Finally, and in conclusion, it is my view that Charles was responsible for the English Civil War because of his actions towards Parliament. The reasons were because of his power he had, money issues, that he left Parliament then came back and that religion was an issue for his country.