THE English Revolution it was a series of civil wars and political regime changes that took place in England, Scotland and Ireland between 1640 and 1688.
These revolutions marked the rise of the bourgeoisie and consolidated the parliamentary monarchy in England.
Summary
The English Revolution can be divided into four phases main:
- THE Puritan Revolution and the Civil war, from 1640 to 1649;
- THE Oliver Cromwell's Republic, from 1649 to 1658;
- THE Restoration of the Stuart Dynasty, with Kings Charles II and James II, from 1660 to 1688;
- THE glorious revolution, which ended the reign of James II and instituted the Parliamentary Monarchy.
As two revolutions - Puritan and Gloriosa - happened in a short space of time, this phase is also called the "English Revolutions", in the plural.
These were aimed at: limiting the king's power through Parliament, guaranteeing religious freedom for Anglicans and preventing the restoration of Catholicism in England.
Puritan Revolution and Civil War
During the reign of Charles I there was a fierce dispute for power between the King and Parliament.
The monarch thought that only the king should lead the nation, dispensing with the help of the parliamentary chambers. Due to this quarrel, King Charles I dissolved Parliament three times in his 4 year reign.
However, he had the desire to unify the churches of Scotland and England, imposing on the Scots the Book of Common Prayer (Book of Common Prayer). The Church of Scotland, however, rebels against this order and the king decides to go to war against the opponents.
For that he needed money, and to get it he wanted to raise taxes. This, however, should be approved by Parliament. A dispute then ensued over who should be allowed to raise taxes. Should it be the king, who ruled according to Divine Law? Or the Parliament that represented the sectors of the nation?
After many threats, the monarch and the Parliament organize armies that face each other in civil war and culminate in the defeat of King Charles I.
During the Civil War several political groups arise in Parliament such as the "Levellers" (levellers) that brought together from small landowners to people who defended the end of private property.
Levellers are opposed by conservative owners of large land holdings. They would later be called "diggers" and advocate for the end of private property.
Parliament wins the conflict and Charles I is arrested and sentenced to death. This sentence opened space for the first and only British republican experience.
Although he was the first English king to be beheaded by his countrymen, Charles I tried to modernize the country. He built roads, landfilled swamps, created a postal service and instituted a job-search help service.
He was also a patron of arts and architecture, trying to make London a great capital and bringing painters like Peter Rubens to decorate his palaces.
See too: Puritan Revolution
Oliver Cromwell's Republic
Oliver Cromwell, ruled England from 1853 to 1858
After the execution of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, a former Member of Parliament, takes over the British government and establishes the commonwealth. One of Cromwell's first acts directly benefited the bourgeoisie who supported him.
In 1650, he promulgated the Acts of Navigation, which stipulated that English goods should be transported only by ships flying the English flag. This dispensed with ships of other nationalities and fostered the domestic naval industry.
However, Cromwell himself felt threatened by Parliament and closed it in 1653. He also orders the arrest and execution of the army chiefs that he himself had ordered to be trained. He still manages to put his son, Richard, in front of the government.
Without the same prestige as his father, Richard Cromwell cannot govern and the bourgeoisie itself calls for the return of the monarchy. In 1660, his son ascends to the throne as Charles II and restores the Stuart dynasty to England.
Restoration of the Stuart Dynasty
Brothers Charles and Jaime restored the Stuart family to the English throne
With the restoration of the Stuarts, England's religious and political problems do not end.
King Charles II was openly in favor of a policy of religious tolerance, but the Protestant-dominated Parliament was against it. Likewise, the sovereign signs laws that favor the Anglican Church over other currents of Protestantism and the Catholic Church.
The dispute between Parliament and the King deepened when Charles II's brother James was discovered to be a Catholic.
This gave rise to two political strands that exist to this day in British politics:
- Whigs: wanted to exclude Jaime from the line of succession to the throne;
- Tory: they did not want to exclude James from the line of succession to the throne.
Naturally, King Charles II aligned himself with the Tories in unleashing a persecution of the Whigs. Since he had no children with his wife and Jaime would succeed him, the nieces had to be raised as Protestants.
Glorious Revolution (1688)
THE glorious revolution it was a revolution without blood or conflict and which ended a period of revolution in England begun by the Puritan Revolution.
To understand it, we need to remember that religion and politics were closely linked at this time. The individual's belief determined his political position and that is why it was so important to define what would be the sovereign's religion and, thus, of the entire kingdom.
For this reason, the bourgeoisie only welcomed the strengthening of the Protestant religion, as it defended the limitation of the monarch's power through Parliament.
In this way, the Catholic James II was always viewed with suspicion. Parliament conspires to have the throne handed over to his nephew William of Orange who had married his daughter and heiress Princess Mary.
With no support in England, Jaime II flees to France. In turn, William and Mary are received as kings in England. Then the parliamentary monarchy is instituted, which considerably limits the sovereign's power in government.
We have more texts on this subject:
- Protestant Reformation
- bourgeois revolutions
