Early Modern History Winter 2024

When Charles I assumed the thrones of England and Scotland in 1625, he inherited two major conflicts from his father, King James I and VI. Firstly, a religious conflict between the Church of England and more radical Protestant groups who felt that the Church of England was too similar to the Catholic Church; and secondly, an ongoing conflict between king and Parliament over how much power Parliament should have relative to the monarch (Wiesner-Hanks 356-357). 

Charles continued this fight with Parliament, eventually dissolving it altogether in 1629. He then instituted several unpopular policies, including, crucially, an attempt to re-convert Scotland, which was deeply Calvinist, to the Church of England. This did not go down well, causing the Scottish to revolt and invade England. As a result, Charles had to call Parliament in order to raise an army that could defend England from the Scots. This Parliament, known as the “Long Parliament,” issued several demands expanding the power of Parliament, which Charles granted, because at that point, he was also facing a rebellion in Ireland. He quickly tried to back down, however, and started raising his own army to fight against Parliament. This split the country into parliamentarians and royalists, setting the stage for the English Civil War (Wiesner-Hanks 358).

Ultimately, Charles lost the war, and was executed by the Parliamentarians, at this point led by Oliver Cromwell, a member of the House of Commons. Cromwell then assumed power and ruled as Lord Protector until his death in 1658. After this, Charles I’s son, Charles II, was brought back to power by Parliament. However, they refused to grant him enough money to run the kingdom, so he turned to France for help, creating a secret agreement with Louis XIV that he would help support them against the Dutch and try to gradually re-convert England to Catholicism (Wiesner-Hanks 360). When the public found out about this, the country was “swept by anti-Catholic hysteria” (Wiesner-Hanks 361), which was not lowered by the subsequent reign of Charles’s brother, James II, who was himself Catholic. The House of Commons decided to take matters into their own hands, and invite William of Orange and his wife Mary (who were Protestants) to take the throne. They did, in a coup known as the “Glorious Revolution,” and James II fled to France (“Glorious Revolution”). 

However, there were still several in England, Scotland, and Ireland, who wanted a Catholic monarch, which eventually led to three major uprisings in 1715, 1719, and 1745 of those who wanted to see James II’s line returned to the throne (known as Jacobites). The Jacobite rising of 1745 was the most successful of these. In it, Charles Edward Stuart, James’s son, took advantage of the War of Austrian Succession, where most of the British Army was occupied, to invade Scotland, and ally with clan chiefs in the Scottish Highlands to invade England (Cannon). Ultimately, they were defeated at the Battle of Culloden Field, Charles was forced to flee back to France (memorialized in “The Skye Boat Song”), and the Scottish Highland clans who had supported the rebellion were suppressed, ending the status of the Jacobites as a serious political force once and for all (“Jacobites”).

Charles I:

Charles I was disliked by Parliament for both political and religious reasons. Although he was Anglican, his wife, Henrietta Maria, was Catholic. He was also a believer in the divine right of kings, which set him against Parliament from the outset. Politically, Charles feuded with Parliament over how much control they should have, especially concerning taxes and foreign policy. This led Charles to dissolve Parliament in 1629 and attempt to rule on his own (Wiesner-Hanks 357).

During this period, Charles made several unpopular decisions, including levying illegal taxes and imposing harsh penalties on religious nonconformists (“Charles I”). His religious reforms were particularly disliked, with his Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, attempting to force Anglican churches to have more elaborate services and ceremonies (Wiesner-Hanks 357). However, his most fatal mistake during this time was supporting Laud’s attempt to Anglicanize Scotland, which had been Calvinist for over seventy-five years, through measures such as the introduction of a new prayer book (“Charles I”; Wiesner-Hanks 357). In response, the Scottish people revolted, forcing Charles to call Parliament in order to fund an army that could fight them.

Oliver Cromwell:

This is a painting of Oliver Cromwell, probably the most recognizable figure from the English Civil War, that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London. What is interesting about Cromwell’s leadership of England is that although his rise to power was due to issues that he (and Parliament) had with the exercise of monarchical power, Cromwell himself seems unable to have envisioned a true alternative to a monarchical structure. Like an absolute monarch, he had control of all decision-making regarding the ruling of the country, and was fairly authoritarian during his time in power. He also decided his son should be his successor (Wiesner-Hanks 359), making him similar to his royal predecessors concerning how power should be used, shared, and passed on. Although many who lived under his rule in England formulated new ideas for how government should function (like the Levellers), this does not appear to have influenced Cromwell himself.

Grave of Flora Macdonald:

Flora MacDonald, the daughter of a Scottish farmer, played a major role in the escape of “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (also known as Charles Edward Stuart or the Young Pretender) to Skye before his return to France, which marked the end of the 1745 Jacobite uprising. Born in 1722, MacDonald was visiting a nearby island when she joined the group that transported Charles, who was disguised as an Irish spinning maid (Oxford Reference). This provides an example of a woman using the social norms of the era to her advantage, as her gender (generally associated with a fainthearted, or even weak, nature) would have diverted suspicion, allowing the escape of a contender for the throne. Additionally, the fact that Charles was specifically Irish in his disguise underlines the ways in which the Irish were dismissed and discriminated against in this time.

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Lily Petersen