Causes of the English Civil War

Charles I came to the throne in 1625 after the death of his father, James I. His reign maintained some similarities with his father’s reign. For instance, both Charles and James had very little money and both of them believed firmly in the Divine Origin of Kingship1. During his reign, many events took place which led to the English Civil War in 1642 and which ended up with the public execution of Charles I. This essay will discuss and deal with the different factors that gave rise to the English Civil War. As was said above, one of the main problems of Charles’ reign was the lack of money and, undoubtedly, this was a good reason for a civil war. Everything started when the Parliament asked Charles to go to war with the Catholics in Spain. Charles did not have the needed money to face this war and so he asked for taxes, the taxes were not enough and the war was impossible. This outraged the MPs but they knew that Charles would then call them back for help. Parliament did not like Charles because they thought he spent money only on his favourites so the King himself would have to find a way to make money. Charles tried several things such as enforcing taxes known as “ship money”2, selling monopolies and titles; he also created a “Court of Star Chamber” which was composed by

1 The divine origin of kingship: According to this doctrine, since only God can judge an unjust king, the king can do no wrong. (Definition provided by http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Divine_Right_of_Kings.html)
2 Nonparliamentary tax first levied in medieval times by the English crown on coastal cities and counties for naval defense in time of war. (Definition provided by http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/540944/ship-money) officials of the crown and which main purpose was to fine people heavily so as to raise money. As there was not a jury, this “court” would obviously fulfill his expectations. Parliament was really angry for the illegal

Bibliography: David Harris Willson, A History of England, University of Minnesota, 1972. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-london/A622937 http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/english_civil-war.htm