The Civil War- The English Republic
The Interregnum
And the War of the Three Kingdoms
Regicide
The killing of Charles I, the ‘Regicide’ of an Anointed Royal, stunned many people, and uproar resulted in many areas of England and on the continent of Europe. It did not go unnoticed by the French that the English were happy to treat their Royal as common criminals and dispose of them as they had done with Charles's grandmother, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Queen of France. To preserve continuity of the House of Stuart, Scotland, on hearing the news of the execution, unilaterally proclaimed his eighteen-year-old son as Charles II, King of Scotland. Similar divisions appeared in Ireland, where the Irish Catholics rebels attempted to take advantage of the confusion in England. The Kingdoms were dividing along religious and loyalist lines, forming opposing groups within each kingdom. England was gripped by an Army takeover, resulting in military rule despite the ostensible presence of a superficially functioning Parliament. Amid all this confusion and rejection, Oliver Cromwell, MP for Cambridge, rose through the Army ranks, proving to be a formidable soldier and then a General, before holding power as Lord Protector of what was later named the Commonwealth. The Monarchy was eventually restored in 1660 after eleven years of Republican rule, which saw two civil wars and approximately a million dead across the three kingdoms, from warfare and disease, with an equal number of injuries. The restoration did not come quickly enough at the end of this long, violent Interregnum.
For the Scotts, execution of the King by the English Parliament was the straw that broke the Camel’s back. It proved to be the catalyst for the War of the Three Kingdoms. Five days after the regicide, Bishop John Warner preached a sermon drawing parallels between Christ’s passion and Charles’s execution, no less emphasised by the posthumous publication of ‘Eikon Basilike’, presenting Charles as his sacred Majesty in His Solitudes and Sufferings. Depicting Charles holding the crown of thorns as his earthly crown lay on the floor. While in the Hague, where the exiled court was residing, on the same day, Charles’s son was no longer the Prince of Wales but immediately declared King by the Scots, His Majesty Charles II, not only King of Scotland, but also of England and Ireland. John Milton, of ‘Paradise Lost’ fame, a staunch republican, however, retorted by ridiculing the Scots for showing false outrage for the King’s execution when they were the original trigger for the civil war. Milton also had a go at the Eikon Basilike for anyone to show adoration to such an image of a man who has done more to undermine ‘our liberties and had made tyranny into an art’.
In France, as in Spain, Venice, the Netherlands and Moscow, Catholic and Protestant alike, lamenting the execution, scorned the English living without religion, King or law but subject only to the power of the sword.
Europe, 1618 Start of the Thirty Years' War
It is interesting at this stage to sketch up a landscape of what was and is happening in the major powers of fragmented Europe at this time.
Europe, End of the Thirty Years' War - Treaty of Westphalia 1648
The Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 put an end to the European Thirty Years' War, which had its origins in religious, ideological, territorial, and political grievances, and was now seeing soldiers returning to their different homelands. The long, drawn-out war that devastated the Holy Roman Empire and the House of Habsburg. Another side to it was between the two Catholic juggernauts, France and Spain, which ended in 1639. That ended only to see France embroiled in its own civil war, the 'Fronde', as it attempted to impose its absolutist ideology. Despite its oppressive efforts, the Fronde rebellion sparked two civil wars. Spain, on the other hand, had its own problem in efforts to prevent Portugal’s independence. As if that were not enough, France, under the ten-year-old Louis XIV, guided by Cardinal Richelieu and later by the Italian-born Cardinal Mazarin, had an insatiable territorial appetite and was embroiled in a never-ending conflict with the Protestant Dutch Netherlands. While further East, the Venetians' long-running war with the Ottomans, mainly over Crete, involved other Greek islands in the Aegean. But coming back to our shores, up to the 1830’s England enjoyed relative peace and economic prosperity.
Hot on the heels of the Execution, however, the English Rump Parliament lost no time in sending ambassadors to Royalist European cities to explain affairs of England to justify their actions and exercising all possible efforts to evade any ideas of possible English weaknesses at a time of confusion in the country that can be interpreted as an ideal time to invade England in defence of Monarchy. France was too weak at this time to intervene, having to deal with the Fronde (a rebellion to break Royalist power that failed) and having recently emerged from the damaging and costly Thirty Years' War. The English Parliament's speedy reaction led to the abolition of the House of Lords and the Monarchy, as being dangerous to the liberty and safety of the people. The English Republic was born.
When news of the Regicide reached Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 5th of February, 1649, as I said earlier, the Scottish Parliament proclaimed Charles II King of Scotland, England and Ireland. In March, the Scottish Parliament sent envoys to The Hague to negotiate Charles's return to Scotland. Clear strings attached: Charles would need to confirm his monarchical authority by swearing the Solemn League and Covenant, as his father had always refused to do. The exiled Royal court was distrustful of the Scots, since they who sold his father to those who murdered him. The story went that Scottish Presbyterianism presented greater tyranny than Catholic Rome ever could. Charles was considering this along the lines that, were he to return to Scotland as a crowned King, this might encourage European powers to provide financial and military assistance to gain all three Kingdoms. To foresee such possibilities, Charles sent his envoys to Spain, Venice, France, and Moscow, but all showed reluctance to provoke the emerging Republic in England.
Irish rebellion
In England, the Council of State had, in the meantime, authorised the reconquest of Ireland. A re-conquest, so called after the 1641 Irish rebellion, the Confederate war, when most of Ireland became under the control of the Irish Catholics. Cromwell landed near Dublin in August 1649 with an expeditionary force. By the end of 1650, the Confederacy, having allied itself with the Royalists, were defeated, although sporadic guerrilla warfare continued until 1653. Many Parliamentarians wished to punish the Irish for atrocities committed against the mainly Scottish Protestant settlers(Plantation Settlements who lived on land stolen from Catholics) during the 1641 Uprising.
Furthermore, some Irish towns (notably Wexford and Waterford) had acted as bases from which privateers (Pirates) had attacked English shipping throughout the 1640s. The invasion became a massacre of the Irish Catholics. Upon landing in Ireland, Cromwell headed for Drogheda. In the ensuing battle for the town, Cromwell ordered that no quarter be given, and the majority of the garrison and Catholic priests were killed. Many civilians also died in the sack. Aston, the Confederate General, was beaten to death by the Roundheads with his own wooden leg. The same atrocities were meted out on the Catholic population in Rathmines, Wexford, and Kilkenny, until finally the massacres had the entire population of Ireland comprehensively subjugated to Cromwell’s troops. Historians today approximate 400,000, up to 40% of the population died, mainly Catholic and some Royalists, from Warfare, famine and disease.
Oliver Cromwell was a pious man; his conviction led him to believe that his victories on the field of battle were God’s doing. He believed in the righteousness of his faith, as did all Puritans, believing they were God's chosen people. In common with how Cromwell saw it, the killing of Catholics is justified by God as the extermination of the Anti-Christ Papist followers, hence devil worshippers. Finding their truth in John’s Book of Revelation, believing in the Millennialism and the return of Christ. For this reason, he allowed the Jews to return to England, expelled from England since 1290 by King Edward I, by the ‘Edict of Expulsion’, motivated by ideas encouraging their conversion to Christianity in preparation for the long-awaited return of Christ. Jewish people were first introduced to England by William I, the Norman conqueror.
By now, Charles had transferred his court in exile to Breda in the Southern Netherlands. He embarked on further negotiations with Scottish delegates. Charles learnt that Scotland was ready to launch an invasion of England, and that, against all advice by his inner council, the Scots would send him to the scaffold as they had his father. But with no assistance forthcoming from Catholic powers, he was giving the proposition of going to Scotland serious consideration. Throw a sprat to catch a mackerel, so to speak.
Charles II
Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland
On 1st of January, 1651, Charles became the last British monarch to be crowned at Scone Palace, Scotland, and so recovered his father’s first lost throne. He shared with his conscience a convincing argument regarding an account of Charles’s maternal grandfather, Henri IV of France: he, in 1572, conveniently converted to Catholicism, believing the crown of France was worth a little, if it were not worth a Mass or two. But before concluding the terms with the Scots, and while on his way to Scotland, he was not allowed to set foot on Scottish soil without signing the Solemn League and Covenant. He signed both while his ship moored off Great Yarmouth. As a reminder, the covenant reaffirmed the Reformed faith and Presbyterian discipline, denounced the attempted changes, and also urged loyalty to the king.
Charles’s presence across the English border represented a danger to the Commonwealth. At this point, General Fairfax, commander of the New Model Army, became a conscientious objector, refusing to fight fellow Protestants, and resigned his leadership. On his resignation, the Rump Parliament appointed Cromwell to take over as commander-in-chief to invade Scotland.
Sir Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron Fairfax of Cameron (1612-1671)
With around 10,000 men, on the 3rd of September, 1650, Cromwell crossed the Scottish border heading for Dunbar. His army defeated twice as many soldiers on the Scottish side, around 23,000. Such a heavy defeat meant over 10.000 Scottish soldiers taken prisoners, many of whom were later sent as indentured labour in North America and the Caribbean. The young king made his escape to Perth, then on to Glen Clova, sleeping rough on the way. Cromwell didn’t let on; he continued his onslaught, subjecting Edinburgh to the heaviest bombardment in its history. The Scottish government surrendered on Christmas Eve, 1650.
Nevertheless, Stuart sympathies remained strong in Scotland, and it still offered Charles a base from which to enter England. The new incursion occurred around September 1651. Yet again, the Cromwell Army of 28,000 soldiers heavily defeated a much smaller Scottish contingent in the Battle of Worcester. Once more, the young king made his escape by hiding behind a large Oak Tree. Later disguised as a Manservant, Charles finally made a 120-mile journey on his way to the shores of Normandy via Brighton.
This episode acquired legendary status, which explains why ‘The Royal Oak’ became the second most popular Pub name in England.
Oliver Cromwell
Undoubtedly, with such remarkable military triumphs, Cromwell's reputation reverberated throughout Europe. Monarchies, including that of France, were on high alert, having received reports of Cromwell’s aim to convert all Monarchies into Republics. Spain became the first significant continental power to acknowledge the Commonwealth. Despite the Commonwealth's uneasiness at the time, foreign states remained keen to maintain a diplomatic presence in London. But not until December 1652 did Louis XIV finally recognise the Commonwealth. As for the Dutch, things took a turn for the worse. Hostilities broke out, which led to a declaration of war. It was mainly a war over trade practices, following the English Parliament's declaration of the Navigation Act, which prohibited the importation of goods into England on foreign ships, and over fishing rights. Eventually, the Protectorate agreed to end Anglo-Dutch hostilities through the Treaty of Westminster in 1654. As if these hostilities were not enough, our war mongering hero plunged into another war, this time with Spain on 26th October, 1655, this time over islands in the West Indies. Although acquiring Jamaica, England suffered a heavy defeat, a first for Cromwell.
Oliver Cromwell was being encouraged to wear the Crown of England. By all his actions, rules, commands and life, he exercised royal prerogatives; he was all but King. In 1657, he refused such ideas for coronation, not only does it run against Republican ideals, but also ‘the providence of God has laid this title aside; he further invoked the scriptural book of Joshua to confirm that ‘he would not build Jericho again’. But with such a high profile, it was natural that he would breed enemies. Rumoured assassination plots on the increase and imagination running riot, suspecting Spanish, French, Dutch, Scottish Presbyterians, or even, in some relayed rumours from Brussels, that Charles’s henchmen could be involved in Cromwell's removal. They surmised that killing him was not murder. Such rumours provided the background for the need to discuss future succession to the Protectorate, which coincided with noticeable shaking of Cromwell’s hands and apparent deterioration of Cromwell’s health.
On 3 September 1658, Oliver Cromwell died at Whitehall Palace at the age of fifty-nine. Historians today assume it was a recurrence of a latent Malarial infection. Immediately after his passing, the likely succession was in doubt, and it may create problems, as Queen Elizabeth did not nominate a successor. After a careful search, he had indeed nominated his eldest son, Richard, in writing as his successor. In effect, it made ‘Lord Protector’ a hereditary title, which was, to the rump parliamentarians, an anathema to Republicanism. In fact, Cromwell had a familial preferment, having appointed many of his immediate family to high positions, ambassadors and such like. Richard, however, proved hopeless; greatness was not hereditary. In the twenty months after Cromwell’s death, England experienced a bewildering array of regime changes, interspersed with army coups.
Before these dynamics, General Monck, a suspected Royal sympathiser who had remained in Scotland after Dunbar, was invited by the Rump members of Parliament to bring his troops into England and enter the city of London. There had been many riots in the city. Demands are being made to restore a full Parliament in the open, allowing all elected members to do away with just the Rump Parliamentarians' privileges. There were calls for no taxes to be collected until this was enacted. Having stationed his troops in Finsbury, Monck switched sides, relocated to Guildhall, joined those opposing the Trump members, and secured the return of all members of Parliament. Consequently, Parliament was dissolved in March 1660, and the newly elected Convention Parliament quickly invited Charles II to return to England as king, and another world began.
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