Welcome to AS 1: England 1603–1649

Welcome to one of the most dramatic and transformative periods in British history! Over these 46 years, England went from an all-powerful monarchy under the early Stuarts to a bloody Civil War, the public execution of a king, and the birth of a republic.

This chapter is part of Assessment Unit AS 1: Historical Investigations and Interpretations (Option 2). Don't worry if all the dates, names, and religious factions feel overwhelming at first. We will break down every single topic step-by-step so you can master both the factual knowledge and the critical historical skills needed for your exam.

Understanding Your Exam Paper (AS Unit 1: SHY11)

The AS 1 exam is 1 hour 30 minutes long, totals 60 marks, and counts for 50% of your AS Level (20% of your full A Level). Here is how the paper is structured:

  • Question 1 (Short Essay / Analysis - 10 marks): You choose between Question 1(a) or Question 1(b). This tests your historical knowledge, explanation, and written communication.
  • Question 2 (Compulsory Source and Interpretation Evaluation - 50 marks total):
    • Part (a) [20 marks]: Primary source evaluation. You assess a contemporary source for its utility and reliability in context.
    • Part (b) [30 marks]: Comparative historical interpretations. You evaluate two extracts (Interpretation A and Interpretation B) and decide which is more convincing using your own contextual knowledge.

Section 1: The Reign of James I (1603–1625)

1. Crown, Parliament, and the Divine Right of Kings

When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 without an heir, King James VI of Scotland inherited the English throne as James I, uniting the English and Scottish crowns. James held a deep intellectual belief in the Divine Right of Kings—the idea that monarchs are appointed directly by God and are accountable only to God. He laid out these views in his political treatise, The Trew Law of Free Monarchies.

However, the English political nation was fiercely protective of its ancient liberties and parliamentary privileges. This created recurring friction:

  • The Form of Apology and Satisfaction (1604): The House of Commons asserted that their privileges (such as freedom of speech and freedom from arrest) were their ancient right and inheritance, not a gift given at the King's royal discretion.
  • The Protestation (1621): Parliament formally recorded their right to debate state affairs and foreign policy. An enraged James sent for the Commons journal and personally ripped the page out of the record book!

2. Financial Pressures and Disputes

James inherited significant structural crown debts from Elizabeth's wars, but his own lavish spending on court masques, gifts, and favourites made the situation much worse. Because the crown had to "live of its own" during peacetime, James relied on controversial non-parliamentary revenue sources:

  • Impositions and Bate’s Case (1606): John Bate, a merchant, refused to pay an import duty (imposition) on currants. The Court of Exchequer ruled in the King’s favour, establishing that the Crown had the prerogative to levy customs duties to regulate foreign trade. James used this ruling to create a wide range of new custom duties (the Book of Rates).
  • The Great Contract (1610): Devised by Lord Treasurer Robert Cecil. Cecil proposed that Parliament give the Crown a fixed annual subsidy of £200,000 in exchange for James giving up feudal dues (such as wardship). Both sides distrusted each other, and the deal collapsed.
  • Sale of Titles: James created the new hereditary title of baronet and sold it to wealthy gentry to raise immediate cash, which deeply devalued the social prestige of the traditional aristocracy.
  • Monopolies: Granting exclusive commercial rights to courtiers and favourites, leading to widespread public resentment over price inflation.

3. Religion under James I

James inherited a mixed religious landscape: moderate Calvinist Protestants (the mainstream Church of England), Puritans (zealous Protestants wanting to cleanse the Church of Catholic remnants), and Catholics.

  • The Millenary Petition (1603): Presented by Puritans as James travelled to London, requesting moderate reforms in Church ceremonies.
  • The Hampton Court Conference (1604): James listened to Puritan grievances. However, when the debate drifted toward replacing bishops with a Scottish-style Presbyterian system, James delivered his famous warning: "No bishop, no king". He recognised that a church hierarchy supported the royal hierarchy.
  • The King James Bible (1611): The most enduring success of the conference was the commissioning of a new, highly accessible English translation of the Bible.
  • The Gunpowder Plot (1605): A conspiracy by Catholic radicals (including Guy Fawkes) to blow up Parliament and the King. This led to strict penal laws against Catholics, though James generally applied these with moderate pragmatism.
  • The Jacobean Balance: For most of his reign, James skillfully maintained a moderate Calvinist orthodoxy while keeping emerging Arminian ideas (which favoured liturgical ceremony, sacramental order, and royal authority) under control.

4. Court and Favourites

James relied heavily on charismatic royal favourites, provoking immense jealousy among the established English nobility:

  • Robert Carr (Earl of Somerset): Dominant until his ruin in the notorious Overbury Scandal (involving the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London).
  • George Villiers (Duke of Buckingham): Rose rapidly from minor gentry to James's closest companion and ultimate court patron, retaining colossal influence into the reign of Charles I.
  • The Spanish Match: James pursued peace with Spain and attempted to marry his son, Prince Charles, to the Spanish Infanta. When Charles and Buckingham travelled secretly to Madrid in 1623, the negotiations collapsed humiliatingly. Returning home, Charles and Buckingham pushed for war against Spain (1624–1625).

Key Takeaway for Section 1: James I was an intellectually shrewd ruler who held strong views on Divine Right, but was politically pragmatic enough to avoid open civil rupture despite clashes over money, religion, and foreign policy.

Section 2: Early Reign of Charles I & The Road to Personal Rule (1625–1629)

1. Early Parliaments and Buckingham’s Disasters

When Charles I ascended the throne in 1625, he lacked his father's flexibility. He viewed all political criticism as disloyalty and kept Buckingham at the centre of power.

  • Tonnage and Poundage (1625): Parliament traditionally granted these customs duties to a monarch for life. Deeply distrustful of Buckingham's military spending, Parliament granted them to Charles for one year only. Charles felt insulted and continued collecting them illegally.
  • Disastrous Military Expeditions: Buckingham oversaw catastrophic military expeditions to Cadiz (1625) against Spain and La Rochelle (1627) to aid French Huguenots. Both failed with heavy casualties and wasted funds.

2. Constitutional Crises: Forced Loans and the Petition of Right

To fund his wars without parliamentary consent, Charles levied a compulsory Forced Loan (1626–1627). Those who refused were imprisoned or had soldiers forcibly billeted in their homes.

  • The Five Knights' Case (1627): Five gentlemen imprisoned for refusing the Forced Loan applied for a writ of habeas corpus to demand charges. The royal judges ruled that the King had a special prerogative right to imprison individuals without showing cause in matters of state security.
  • The Petition of Right (1628): Drafted by MPs led by Sir Edward Coke. To secure new taxes, Charles reluctantly agreed to this historic constitutional declaration, which banned:
    1. Non-parliamentary taxation (like the Forced Loan).
    2. Arbitrary imprisonment without cause.
    3. The forced billeting of soldiers in private homes.
    4. The use of martial law against civilians.
  • Assassination of Buckingham (August 1628): Buckingham was stabbed to death in Portsmouth by John Felton. While the public celebrated in the streets, Charles was devastated and blamed Parliament’s inflammatory rhetoric.

3. The Three Resolutions (1629) and the Dissolution

When Parliament met in 1629, tensions exploded over the continued collection of Tonnage and Poundage and the rapid rise of Arminian clergy. Knowing the King was sending a message to dissolve Parliament, radical MPs led by Sir John Eliot physically held the Speaker, John Finch, down in his chair so he could not adjourn the session.

They shouted out the famous Three Resolutions, declaring anyone an enemy to the kingdom who:

  1. Introduced innovations in religion (promoting Arminianism or Popery).
  2. Advised the taking of customs duties (Tonnage and Poundage) without parliamentary approval.
  3. Voluntarily paid those unauthorised taxes.

Charles immediately dissolved Parliament, arrested Eliot and his allies, and embarked on 11 years of governing without Parliament.

Key Takeaway for Section 2: Charles I's unyielding defence of Buckingham and collection of unparliamentary taxes led to the dramatic constitutional showdown of 1629 and the closure of Parliament.

Section 3: Personal Rule / The "Eleven Years' Tyranny" (1629–1640)

1. Financial Policies: "Fiscal Feudalism"

Without Parliament to vote subsidies, Charles's crown lawyers revived ancient, obsolete feudal laws to extract money:

  • Distraint of Knighthood: Fining all men owning land worth £40 or more a year who had failed to present themselves at the King’s coronation to receive a knighthood.
  • Forest Fines: Re-mapping boundaries of royal forests back to ancient boundaries and fining landowners whose estates encroached on them.
  • Monopolies: Bypassing the 1624 Monopolies Act by granting corporate monopolies to companies, notably the unpopular Catholic-run soap monopoly nicknamed "Popish soap".
  • Ship Money (1634–1640): Traditionally a tax levied exclusively on coastal ports in times of national emergency to provide naval ships. Charles transformed it into a permanent, kingdom-wide tax by extending it to inland counties in 1635.
    • The Hampden Case (1637): John Hampden, a prominent Buckinghamshire gentleman, refused to pay his Ship Money assessment of 20 shillings to test the legality of the tax. The Court of Exchequer ruled narrowly in the King's favour (7 votes to 5). This narrow verdict was a moral victory for critics and triggered widespread tax resistance across the country.

2. Religious Policies: The Rise of Laudianism

In 1633, Charles appointed William Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury. Together, they imposed a strict, ceremonial brand of Arminianism known as Laudianism, aiming to restore the "Beauty of Holiness":

  • Altar Policy: Moving communion tables from the centre of the church nave to the east end, elevating them on steps, and enclosing them behind wooden communion rails. To Puritans, this looked dangerously like a return to Catholic transubstantiation and separated the priest from the congregation.
  • Vestments and Ritual: Strict enforcement of the Book of Common Prayer, bowing at the name of Jesus, and mandatory wearing of the surplice.
  • Suppressing Puritanism: Laud dissolved the Feoffees for Impropriations (a Puritan organisation that bought church tithes to install Calvinist lecturers) and used the prerogative courts of Star Chamber and High Commission to silence opposition.
  • The Trial of Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick (1637): Three Puritan professionals (William Prynne, Henry Burton, and John Bastwick) were convicted in the Star Chamber for writing tracts attacking bishops. They were fined, stripped of their degrees, placed in the pillory, and had their ears publicly cut off. Their stoic suffering turned them into popular martyrs.

3. The Scottish Crisis and the Bishops' Wars

Charles's attempt to impose religious uniformity across his kingdoms proved to be the fatal trigger for the collapse of Personal Rule:

  • The Scottish Prayer Book (1637): Charles ordered the introduction of a new English-style Book of Common Prayer in Presbyterian Scotland. When read at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, it sparked instant riots.
  • The National Covenant (1638): Scottish nobles, ministers, and citizens signed a manifesto pledging to defend their Presbyterian Kirk against popish innovations.
  • The Bishops' Wars (1639–1640): Charles mobilised poorly equipped, unmotivated English militia against the battle-hardened Scottish Covenanter army. Charles was outmatched and humiliated. Lacking the funds to sustain an army, Charles was forced to sign peace terms and recall the English Parliament.

Key Takeaway for Section 3: Personal Rule ran efficiently for a decade, but its narrow financial methods, unpopular Laudian church reforms, and disastrous handling of Scotland forced Charles to recall Parliament in 1640.

Section 4: The Long Parliament & Outbreak of Civil War (1640–1642)

1. The Short Parliament (April–May 1640)

Charles summoned Parliament in April 1640 to demand funds for a second campaign against the Scots. MPs refused to grant any money until their accumulated grievances from the 11 years of Personal Rule were addressed. Charles dissolved the body after just three weeks—hence the Short Parliament. After the Scots invaded northern England and occupied Newcastle, Charles was forced to summon Parliament once more.

2. The Long Parliament Dismantles Personal Rule (1640–1641)

Meeting in November 1640 under the parliamentary leadership of John Pym (and his group known as "Pym’s Junto"), the Long Parliament systematically attacked the machinery of Personal Rule:

  • Execution of Strafford (May 1641): Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (Charles's ruthless Lord Deputy of Ireland), was arrested for treason. When the regular impeachment trial stalled, Parliament passed a Bill of Attainder—a law declaring him guilty without regular judicial proof. Fearing mob violence against his family, Charles signed Strafford's death warrant, an act he regretted for the rest of his life.
  • Abolition of Prerogative Courts: The Court of Star Chamber and Court of High Commission were permanently abolished.
  • Triennial Act (1641): Mandated that Parliament must be summoned at least once every three years.
  • Act Against Dissolution: Banned the dissolution of the current Parliament without its own consent.
  • Root and Branch Petition: A massive petition calling for the complete abolition of bishops ("roots and branches"), which exposed the first deep religious divisions among MPs.

3. The Drift to War (1641–1642)

Up to mid-1641, Parliament had acted with near-unanimity. However, radical parliamentary demands soon alienated moderate MPs, creating a Royalist party of constitutional royalists:

  • The Irish Rebellion (October 1641): Irish Catholics rose in revolt, massacring Protestant settlers. While both King and Parliament agreed an army had to be raised to crush the rebellion, MPs could not trust Charles with command of an armed force.
  • The Grand Remonstrance (November 1641): A comprehensive catalogue of all Charles's errors since 1625, accompanied by demands that the King employ only ministers trusted by Parliament. It passed the Commons by a narrow margin of just 11 votes (159 to 148), showing the deep split within Parliament.
  • Attempt on the Five Members (January 1642): Charles personally entered the House of Commons with an armed guard to arrest John Pym, John Hampden, and three other leaders. Forewarned, the members had fled into the City of London. This direct violation of parliamentary privilege proved to many that Charles could not be trusted.
  • The Nineteen Propositions (June 1642): Parliament's ultimatum demanding total control over the military, church reform, foreign policy, and the appointment of all royal ministers and royal children's tutors. Charles rejected them outright, stating they would reduce him to a mere figurehead.
  • Outbreak of War: On 22 August 1642, King Charles raised the royal standard at Nottingham, officially beginning the First English Civil War.

Key Takeaway for Section 4: What began in 1640 as a united parliamentary effort to reform royal abuses fractured over religious division and mutual paranoia, ending in military confrontation in August 1642.

Section 5: Civil Wars, Search for Settlement, and Regicide (1642–1649)

1. The First Civil War (1642–1646)

The civil conflict hinged on key military developments, alliances, and structural reforms:

  • Battle of Edgehill (October 1642): The first major pitched battle; ended in an indecisive draw, opening the road for a prolonged war.
  • Solemn League and Covenant (1643): Parliament secured an alliance with the Scottish Covenanters, bringing Scottish military power into northern England in exchange for a commitment to reform the English Church along Presbyterian lines.
  • Battle of Marston Moor (July 1644): A crushing allied victory for Parliament and the Scots, wiping out the King's northern army.
  • Self-Denying Ordinance & The New Model Army (1645): Parliament removed sitting MPs and peers from military command (the Self-Denying Ordinance) and consolidated its scattered forces into a single, disciplined, professional fighting force: the New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax with Oliver Cromwell leading the cavalry.
  • Battle of Naseby (June 1645): The New Model Army decisively shattered the main Royalist army. In 1646, Charles surrendered himself to the Scots at Newark.

2. The Search for a Settlement (1646–1648)

Winning the war proved easier than winning the peace. The anti-royalist coalition fractured into three rival factions: Presbyterian MPs in Parliament, Independent Army Officers (Fairfax, Cromwell, Henry Ireton), and Radical Soldiers/Levellers.

  • The Newcastle Propositions (1646): Formulated by Presbyterian MPs; demanded that Charles sign the Covenant, accept Presbyterianism for three years, and surrender control of the militia for 20 years. Charles deliberately dragged out negotiations.
  • The Heads of the Proposals (1647): A more moderate constitutional proposal drafted by Henry Ireton on behalf of the Army. It offered greater religious toleration for Protestants and retained bishops stripped of coercive powers.
  • The Putney Debates (Autumn 1647): Debates between Army Grandees (Cromwell, Ireton) and radical Leveller-influenced soldiers who presented An Agreement of the People, advocating manhood suffrage and radical legal equality.
  • The Secret "Engagement" with the Scots: Charles took advantage of these divisions. In December 1647, he secretly struck a deal with moderate Scots (the Engagers), promising to establish Presbyterianism in England for three years in exchange for a Scottish invasion to restore him to power.

3. The Second Civil War (1648) and Regicide

Charles's secret deal triggered the brief Second Civil War in 1648:

  • Battle of Preston (August 1648): Cromwell completely crushed the invading Scottish-Royalist army.
  • The "Man of Blood": Furious that Charles had unleashed a second, unnecessary war upon his own people after God had already judged against him in the first, the New Model Army declared Charles a "man of blood" who must be brought to justice.
  • Pride’s Purge (December 1648): When moderate MPs in the Long Parliament attempted to resume negotiations with the King, Colonel Thomas Pride stood at the doors of the House of Commons with troops, arresting or excluding over 100 moderate MPs. The remaining fraction—around 70 MPs—became known as the Rump Parliament.
  • The Trial and Execution (January 1649): The Rump established a High Court of Justice to try Charles I for high treason against the people of England. Charles refused to recognise the court's authority, asking by what lawful power he had been brought there. He was found guilty and publicly beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall on 30 January 1649. Monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished, declaring England a Commonwealth.

Key Takeaway for Section 5: The execution of Charles I in 1649 was not the initial aim of Parliament in 1642. It was the direct consequence of Charles’s persistent duplicity, the outbreak of the Second Civil War, and the radicalisation of the New Model Army.

Examiner Tips & Common Pitfalls for AS 1

1. How to Handle Question 2(a): Primary Source Evaluation

  • Do NOT dismiss sources as simply "biased": Examiners penalise stock, simplistic comments like "This source is unreliable because the author was a royalist and biased."
  • Evaluate Utility and Context: Explain what the source shows about the specific question, why the author held that view given their contemporary context, and how their purpose or audience influences the value of the evidence.

2. How to Handle Question 2(b): Comparative Historical Interpretations

  • Do NOT write a generic narrative essay: Candidates frequently lose marks by writing a chronological recap of events without engaging with the extracts.
  • Compare Interpretation A vs Interpretation B: Identify the core historical arguments of both historians. Use your own detailed contextual knowledge to support or challenge the claims in each interpretation, and clearly justify which interpretation you find more convincing.

3. Watch Out for These Factual Traps!

  • Do not confuse the First and Second Civil Wars: The First (1642–1646) saw Parliament allied with the Scots against Charles. The Second (1648) saw Charles allied with the Scottish Engagers against Parliament and the New Model Army.
  • Puritans were not all anti-monarchists: In the early 1600s, almost all Puritans were loyal subjects of the crown who simply wanted deeper Protestant reform in church liturgy, not the destruction of the monarchy.
  • Regicide was not the goal in 1642: Parliament took up arms in 1642 to "rescue" the King from evil counsellors and preserve parliamentary rights. The idea of executing the King emerged only after the Second Civil War in 1648.

Quick Reference Timeline (1603–1649)

  • 1603: Accession of James I; Millenary Petition.
  • 1604: Hampton Court Conference; Form of Apology and Satisfaction.
  • 1605: Gunpowder Plot.
  • 1610: Failure of Cecil’s Great Contract.
  • 1625: Death of James I; accession of Charles I; 1-year grant of Tonnage & Poundage; Cadiz expedition.
  • 1628: Petition of Right; assassination of Buckingham.
  • 1629: Three Resolutions read while Speaker Finch held in chair; Charles dissolves Parliament (Start of Personal Rule).
  • 1633: William Laud appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 1635: Ship Money extended to inland counties.
  • 1637: Hampden Case; trial of Prynne, Burton, and Bastwick; Scottish Prayer Book riots.
  • 1638: Scottish National Covenant signed.
  • 1639–1640: Bishops’ Wars; Short Parliament (April–May 1640); Long Parliament meets (Nov 1640).
  • 1641: Execution of Strafford; Triennial Act; Abolition of Prerogative Courts; Irish Rebellion; Grand Remonstrance.
  • 1642: Attempt on the Five Members (Jan); Nineteen Propositions (June); Royal Standard raised at Nottingham (Aug).
  • 1644: Battle of Marston Moor.
  • 1645: Formation of New Model Army; Battle of Naseby.
  • 1646: Charles surrenders to the Scots; Newcastle Propositions.
  • 1647: Army presents Heads of the Proposals; Putney Debates; Charles signs secret Engagement with Scots.
  • 1648: Second Civil War; Battle of Preston; Pride’s Purge creates Rump Parliament.
  • 1649: Trial and execution of King Charles I (30 January).