The Causes and Events of the Civil Wars Throughout England
Subject Knowledge: Charles I and Parliament
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Subject Knowledge: The Early War
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Subject Knowledge: The Aftermath
- Cromwell put down Catholic resistance in Ireland in no uncertain terms, perpetrating notorious massacres at Drogheda and Wexford.
- In his absence, in 1650 the late King’s son, Charles II, led the Scots Royalists in another invasion of England.
- Cromwell returned, headed north, and laid siege to Edinburgh. Although forced by a shortage of supplies to withdraw to Dunbar, he defeated the pursuing Royalists there on 3rd September.
- He delivered the final blow in England at Worcester a year later.
- The dispute between Parliament and the King was brutally resolved. The Long Parliament (called by Charles I in 1640) had been reduced by Pride’s Purge of December 1648.
- What remained was jokingly called the Rump Parliament, and this itself was divided.
- While the aristocracy had been ousted, along with the King, those members who remained still belonged to the gentry and had their interests at heart.
- With a balance to strike between upholding tolerance and maintaining social order, the Rumpers opted for safety- first conservatism.
- The clamorous demand for reform of the legal system was crystallised by Matthew Hale’s commission of 1652, which called for protection for poor defendants against abuse by the authorities or wealthy litigants.
- Parliament quickly lost its nerve and none of the commission’s recommendations made it into law.
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