England, from King James I to Charles II

King James, Catholics and Puritans

In the 1500s, England and the Netherlands had been progressing economically while Germany had been losing economically from the shift to trade carried by ships across seas. In England, serfdom was all but over. England had a free market in land and labor. Many of England's peasants had become successful farmers, joining with the nobility in advancing methods of growing crops.

A developing agriculture was the most significant element in economic progress, and more agriculture in England was aimed at trade rather than subsistence farming. In England, more money could be made raising sheep than growing grain, and more land was being fenced in and converted to sheep pasture to meet the growing demand for wool. England was exporting tin, lead and leather. Eighty percent of its exports was in undyed and unfinished woolen cloth, and in the wool industry, English merchants formed a free association called Merchants of the Staple. They shared a warehouse across the English Channel, in Calais, from which each merchant sold his goods abroad. Some of these merchants joined another association, called the Merchant Adventurers, which operated a warehouse in Antwerp, and in 1564 the Merchant Adventurers received a Royal Charter conferring on them a legal monopoly of cloth exports to the Netherlands and to Germany.

James VI, King of Scotland, the son of the beheaded Queen Mary of Scotland, succeeded his cousin, Elizabeth I of England in 1603, James becoming James I of England. With this, England and Scotland were united into what became known as Great Britain, while the English and Scots remained less than united in spirit.

James was a Calvinist, a devout Presbyterian, who had contempt for both Puritans and Catholics. Puritans were demanding that James "purify" the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, and James threatened to run them out of the country. Some Catholics, on the other hand, tried to assassinate James -- in what was called the Gun Powder Treason -- in order to establish a rule in Britain more friendly to Catholicism, with James believing that Jesuits had joined the plot.

James believed in making the Bible available to common folks, and so he commissioned a translation of the Bible into English, to be called the Authorized King James Bible -- in place of three other popular versions of the Bible:the Geneva Bible, the Great Bible (an English language translation authorized by Henry VIII) and the Bishop's Bible. Beginning in 1607, forty-seven translators worked daily, and they put together their work for publication in 1611, with the Catholic Church believing the work to be less than a triumph.

For the sake of clarity, the King James translation included italicized words not found in the Hebrew or Greek texts.

As a Presbyterian, James was opposed to bishops, while bishops remained in the Anglican Church (the Church of England). As King of England, James was head of the Church of England, and, in 1612, with the support of the Anglican clergy he borrowed from the French monarchy and justified his rule on the grounds of Divine Right. He held that the king was from God and law was from the king. He was opposed to any diminution of this God-given power in the form of any power belonging to parliament, and this upset those English aristocrats and bourgeoisie who believed that tradition had given them some powers through parliament. [note]

James tried to bridge the gap between Protestants and Catholics by marrying his son to a Spanish princess, which angered his Puritan subjects. James, also King of Ireland, tried to "tame" people there by sending them English and Scot Protestants, adding to what would be 200,000 settlers in northern Ireland, mostly Lowland Scots -- to be known as Ulster Scots or, in America, as Scots-Irish.

James founded the first successful British colonies on the American mainland - in Virginia, Massachusetts and Nova Scotia. He was hoping to bring the Christian religion "to such people as yet live in darkness" and to produce in America "settled and quiet government."

James survived more assassination attempts. He was handicapped physically and in speech. His drooling and otherwise unattractive appearance caused discomfort among some who tried to remove what they saw as a blight on the glory of English monarchy, by the only speedy and available means of removing a king -- assassination.

Charles the First Loses His Head

From 1623 to 1625 came the last of the bad harvests that were to cause widespread starvation in England. Also in 1625 James died and was succeeded by his son, Charles, who took the title of Charles I. Charles inherited monetary inflation and a parliament that had been annoyed at seeing money wasted by the royal government. Parliament contained many Puritans who disliked Charles as they had his father, James. As head of the Anglican Church, Charles pursued anti-Calvinist policies in favor of the Catholic traditions: ritual at the alter and sacraments more than preaching predestination from the pulpit. The king's income was not adequate to pay for the operations of his bureaucracy, and the House of Commons refused to vote Charles the money he needed to keep his government operating unless he redressed grievances they had with some of his administrative and religious policies.

The parliaments of Queen Elizabeth had been rarely summoned, and when Parliament was summoned its respect for her was aided by her frugality. James' frugality had also been appreciated by Parliament, as had his reduction in corruption and his balanced budget. But Charles lost the respect of Parliament. Believing that his rule was not as absolute as he had thought it should be, he chose in 1629 to put an end to Parliament. He jailed people who objected. He scared property owners with his attempts to raise money. Charles raised customs duties. He persecuted Puritans, and he attempted to impose the Anglican Church's prayer book upon the Scottish Calvinists called Presbyterians. In 1638 the Presbyterians rebelled against this, and Charles needed the cooperation of the bourgeoisie and gentry - who had the money that he needed to combat the Scots' rebellion. In 1640, Charles reconvened Parliament. Parliament refused to vote for the money that Charles wished. Charles dismissed Parliament again, and the Scots invaded northern England, stopping only when a desperate Charles reconvened Parliament again.

To get the money he needed, Charles promised not to attempt to tax without the consent of the House of Commons, to convene Parliament at least once every three years, to refrain from arbitrary imprisonment, to refrain from quartering troops in people's homes and not to impose martial law in time of peace. Special courts that Charles had created were abolished. Parliament won the execution of Charles' minister, the Earl of Strafford, whom Parliament's members held responsible for what they saw as illegal acts between 1629 and 1640. With these victories, Parliament voted for money that was given to the Scots sitting in occupation of a part of northern England, and the Scots returned home.

Then another crisis erupted -- in Ireland. Catholics rose up and slaughtered thousands of Protestants. In London, Parliament voted against collecting the money necessary for Charles to organize an army to move against Ireland's Catholics, Parliament fearing that with such an army Charles would also try to re-establish his absolute powers. Charles saw that Parliament was divided -- as politicians usually are on various issues -- and he moved against those members of Parliament he disliked most. He tried having five members of the House of Commons arrested. Outside of Parliament was much support for Parliament. Presbyterians ministers urged rebellion from their pulpits. In London, where Presbyterians were numerous, people rose up against Charles. Those supporting Charles tended to be aristocrats, called Cavaliers. Many in Parliament, especially in the House of Lords, went over to the side of the king. On the other side remained the London revolutionaries and what was left of Parliament, including its Puritan members, called the Roundheads because of their short hair. The king and the Cavaliers had their own army, and Parliament had its army, and civil war began.

Most of those in Parliament's army carried Bibles, and they were led by a devout Puritan member of Parliament named Oliver Cromwell. He was a good organizer and military commander. Parliament's army was aided by the strict discipline that was characteristic of the Calvinists -- a strict discipline that helped in maintaining military formation in the heat of battle. Cromwell and his army defeated the Cavaliers at Marston Moor in northern England and the following year, 1645, at Naseby in central England. And King Charles was taken prisoner and put on trial for treason.

At the trial a lot of talk about God erupted, Charles claiming that he had a trust committed to him by God and that those trying him would be called to account by God. And those trying Charles proclaimed themselves the instruments of God's justice. The prosecutors called on God for guidance, and they spoke of God's will being done. On January 30,1649, Charles went to the executioner's block. He made a speech in which he expressed his innocence and his wish that God forgive his executioners. The executioners block was so low that Charles had to endure the indignity of lying prone rather than kneeling. As soon as he signaled with his hand, one blow severed his head, which was displayed to the huge crowd in attendance, and from the crowd came a great groan.

Virtue and War in the Puritan Republic

With the king having lost his head and no succession, England was a republic. Parliament was in charge of the government and declared England a commonwealth and "free state," without a king or House of Lords (commonwealth referring to national unity for the common good). Not yet a democracy, the commonwealth of England was functioning as a military dictatorship, while many of the English were eager to extend the revolution.

In London were those called diggers. They supported the overthrow of the monarchy but believed that common people would not benefit from it unless landlords lost their privileges and their lands to common ownership. They saw the buying and selling of land as the cause of all oppression, bondage and war. "True freedom," wrote their leader, Gerard Winstanley, "lies in free enjoyment of the earth." These were god-fearing people who disliked the association between church authorities and established power, and they claimed that existing religious authorities were instruments of class rule.

Some others were opposed to the Diggers but for democracy, and they were called Levellers by those opposed to democracy. The Leveller movement was based in London, and they too were grounded in religion. They were inclined to lift quotations from the Bible, as did their opponents -- while both sides considered also their political and economic interests. As a goal during the war years (1645-46) against Charles, the Levellers advocated giving the vote to all males in elections for local offices and representation to the House of Commons. They advocated supremacy for the House of Commons, and they advocated constitutional guarantees of liberty, religious toleration and annual meetings of Parliament. The Levelers favored fairness in applications of the law, faster legal proceedings, prison reform and the closure of debtor prisons. The Levellers appealed to small farmers, small shopkeepers and artisans, but their hold on England's common people was minor. Conservative Puritans ministers accused them of adultery, incest, fornication, drunkeness, card playing and lying, and many among the common folk remained accustomed to taking their ideas from their local ministers or squire.

Members of the House of Commons -- representing landowners, merchants and the middleclass -- were afraid of the Levellers. Many in the army had more humble origins, and some of them joined the Leveller movement. Levellers within the army rebelled at Burford in May, 1649, while most soldiers remained loyal to their commanders. And the Leveller rebellion was crushed -- the first great victory of republicans against democrats in modern times.

Soon after the Leveller rebellion was crushed, so too was Digger activism. About thirty Diggers had tried to establish themselves on wasteland at St. George's hill, in Surrey. Fear of a communist takeover spread among local ministers and small property owners. The Diggers at St. Georges Hill suffered insults and assaults, and several Diggers were arrested for trespassing on St. Georges Hill. In March 1650, the small community of Diggers was dispersed. In April, a small Digger community in Cobham was also dispersed, after a local Lord of the Manor, Parson Platt, and others destroyed Digger houses, furniture, and scattered their belongings. The Diggers were threatened with death if they returned, and several guards were posted at the property. Lacking public support, the Digger movement faded into oblivion.

Cromwell into Ireland and Scotland

In March 1649, two months after the execution of Charles, Parliament named Cromwell as Lord Lieutenant and Commander in Chief in Ireland. His duty was to establish Parliament's authority over the rebellious Catholics of Ireland - an operation opposed by the Levellers. In September, Cromwell landed at Dublin with 12,000 men, unopposed by any army. Cromwell had in mind the massacres by Catholics in 1641. He proclaimed the righteous judgment of God upon the Catholics, and at Drogheda (a seaport town thirty miles north of Dublin) he exercised God's judgment by having the population massacred. He did the same at the port of Wexford (eighty-three miles south of Dublin). Contrary to Cromwell's hopes, these massacres did not discourage resistance elsewhere among Ireland's Catholics. Being a good Puritan, Cromwell tried to stop indiscriminate plundering by his army, and, as he saw it, God gave him a victory over the Irish. The Irish saw it differently. With them, Cromwell left a legacy of hatred of British rule that was to extend into the twentieth century.

Next his army went to Scotland, where the eldest son of Charles, Charles II, then twenty, had taken residence. An army of 26,000 Scots supported the proclamation that Charles II was the new king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Into 1651, Cromwell defeated the Scottish armies. Charles II fled to France. Cromwell left behind an army in Scotland and returned to London, and Scotland was given representation in Parliament, as was Ireland.

War Against the Dutch

Parliament was able to tax more than Charles would have dared try. And with the additional money, the Commonwealth was able to launch a ship building program, beginning in 1649. But English trade had been suffering, with English merchants were blaming the Spanish, French and the Dutch. The English resented Dutch economic superiority and rivalry in trade, and Dutch fishing off their shores in the North Sea. For thirty years Dutch-English relations had been deteriorating. In 1651, Parliament passed the Navigation Act, which forbade goods leaving Great Britain in the hands of Dutch merchants or on Dutch ships. In May, 1652, the Dutch and English fleets bumped into each other in the English Channel, off the coast of Dover, and, itching for a fight, the English commanders believed that the show of courtesy by the Dutch was insufficient. Shots were fired. The Dutch lost two ships, and they retreated. War between the United Netherlands and the Commonwealth of Great Britain had begun, supported by many who believed that the Dutch were a greedy people who had forsaken God's cause.

The English attacked Dutch fishing boats off the coasts of Scotland and England. Less dependent on trade by sea, the English were less vulnerable than the Dutch. The Dutch played defense, trying to protect its trade through use of convoys, which delayed trade, as did rerouting their ships around the north of Ireland and Scotland. The Dutch were vulnerable to English attacks as they passed through the English Channel, and English ships were built more for war than were Dutch ships. English ships had more firepower, and with their history of raiding the English were more skilled in the art of war, including keeping a naval military line. Dutch naval officers were more influenced by the traditions of merchant shipping, with less orientation in the rigorous discipline that served warfare.

Despite England's successes in warfare, members of Parliament continued to squabble, as members of parliaments are wont to do, and toward the end of 1653 a group of army officers declared Cromwell Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland. A constitution was written. Cromwell was from the landed elite rather than a merchant family, and he was not so enthusiastic for the war as were some others. The war was hurting England's trade as well as Dutch trade. Maintaining a naval blockade of the Netherlands was expensive, and English seamen, sitting on ships at anchor off the coast of the United Netherlands, were growing restless and irritated.

Some in England were glorying in their country's success against the Dutch, and they were displeased by Cromwell move to end the war, believing that doing so was premature. Cromwell was opposed to further war against fellow Protestants while he saw danger looming from Catholic France. England, the land that had killed its king, was looked upon with disdain by much of Europe, and in the international arena England could use all the friends it could get, including the Dutch. The war was hurting the Dutch, their economy having been built on economic efficiency and peace, and in 1654 Cromwell and the Dutch signed an agreement ending the war.

The Battle for Virtue

During the republic, Puritans held the position of respectable pillar of local society. Puritans supporting Cromwell's dictatorship had hoped for a remaking of common folk. They were opposed to idleness and disorderly conduct and favored instead the conduct of people of "credit and reputation." They favored an individuals right to interpret God's word without the guidance of a priest. And although they frowned upon people whose interpretation was different from theirs, they did believe in a degree of tolerance among their fellow Protestants.

Various Protestant sects had emerged -- Baptists, Ranters, Quakers and others, all insisting that they be allowed their own course toward salvation. The name Baptist was a shortened version of Anabaptist, Anabaptist ideas having spread from the Dutch, the first Baptist church appearing in England in the year 1612. Another sect, which made its appearance during the republic, was called the Fifth Monarchy Men. They believed that a new rule was coming that would be the successor to the Roman Empire, a rule in which Jesus Christ would reign on earth, with his saints, for one thousand years.

Like the early Christians, in being different they aroused suspicion and hostility. Puritans detested the Quakers for their pacifism and their belief in equality, seeing equality as a threat to civil disorder. The Quakers drew hostility also by interrupting other people's church services. Quakers, in turn, had dirt clods, cow dung and sticks thrown at them during their services. In 1659 a rumor spread that Quakers were running naked through the streets, and concern erupted over morality and the safety of property.

Despite the prevalence of religious faith, England, especially London, remained a rough and tumble town. The world of things in England seemed a domain of sin in which each person had to seek a break from the common corruption and put himself or herself right with God. Drinking, gambling and fighting were common. Despite rule by the Puritans, crime in England was on the rise, including crimes that were capital offenses -- of which there were over two hundred, including horse or sheep stealing or shoplifting more than five shillings worth of goods. But the authorities saw themselves as humane. Rather than hang many of those found guilty of capital offenses, they sent them to their colonies in the Americas.

A belief in witchcraft was still prevalent, and was being exported to the Americas. This was accompanied by a quote from Exodus 22:18, "Thou shall not suffer a witch to live." People were on the lookout for signs of lust, old women who were quick to curse, people who were spiteful and ill-natured, and people with brown lumps on their body, where Satan had sucked. Women were more frequently the targets of witch hunts and were often thrown into dungeons and tortured, willing to confess to anything to stop their torment. Women were hanging on to a tradition of herbal remedies more effective in healing than those thought of as learned physicians, with their bleeding, purging, fumigations, and toxic chemicals such as mercury. The explanation for the women being able to heal and the learned physicians not was often witchcraft.

The Revolution Fades

Against the will of merchants lawyers and others, Cromwell allowed Jews to live and worship in England, ending their 365-year banishment, the Jews building their first synagogue in London in 1657. But Cromwell prohibited Catholics practicing their faith. He saw his primary role as a stay against wickedness and saw Catholicism in England as seditious. England was at war with Catholic Spain, and Catholic France, and he saw England at war with "popery," royalists from abroad and closet royalists at home.

Cromwell opened and closed Parliament, appointed officials, received ambassadors and distributed honors while retaining an air of modesty amid an elaborate court. He wanted his image to remain off coins. His modesty was in part at least the product of his Puritanism, which also led him to believe that he was doing the Lord's work. Success he took as God's favor. Failure he took as a sign of God's disfavor. Defeats suffered by his forces in the Caribbean in 1655, at the hands of the Spanish, he saw as a consequence of "... extreme avarice, pride and confidence, disorders and debauchedness, profaneness and wickedness, commonly practiced" among his forces. And for his soldiers in the Caribbean he urged stricter discipline to remove "all manner of vice" and to create conditions wherein "virtue and godliness" could flourish.

Cromwell's health weakened, and in 1658 "the Lord called him away," and following his death came political turmoil. Some had had their fill of Puritanism and were relieved that Cromwell had died. Some had hated Cromwell's regime for the execution of Charles I and some hated it for a taxation that had been greater than under Charles I. Levellers were still around, and they thought that maybe their ideas would fare better under a constitutional monarchy -- a monarch perhaps looking more to the benefit of common people rather than the interest of the wealthy merchants and landowners.

Discontent rose among some as a result of a decline in economic activity caused by war with Spain. Fear of plunder by soldiers arose among civilians as soldiers went unpaid. Most of the cost of the army had been paid by monthly assessments -- taxes on property -- and people did not have the money to pay these taxes. Rather than pay their taxes some rioted. Parliament ruled, but ineffectively. In December 1659 shops in London had shut down and bloodshed was feared. Troops fired on a great crowd of apprentices presenting for reform, leaving six or seven dead. Many had begun to long for the good old days of monarchical rule, including church leaders among the Presbyterians and Anglicans. They had tolerated Cromwell, seeing him as a bulwark against the political left, and with Cromwell gone they were again afraid of mobs and common folk.

Parliament itself was affected by the swing in opinion. On May 1, 1660, both houses of Parliament voted to restore the monarchy to the eldest son of Charles I, who was in exile in France. Charles arrived at Dover on May 25. Bonfires were lit and bells rung in great celebration. A few notorious republicans were burned in effigy. In October a prominent republican, Thomas Harrison, was hanged, drawn and quartered, and his heart and head displayed to cheering onlookers. In January, the body of Cromwell and two others were exhumed and their bodies hanged in symbolic executions. The people of England were relieved and happy.

Recommended Books

Revolution, Reaction and the Triumph of Conservatism: English history 1558-1700, by M A R Graves and, R H Silcock, 1984

Charles II: Royal Politician, J R Jones, 1987

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