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The Seventeenth Century

Introduction to British Cultural Studies (Universität Leipzig)

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The Seventeenth Century

 1. The Stuarts 
- James I (1603-1625) - Charles I (1625-1649) - Charles II (1660-1685)
- James II (1685-1688) - Mary II (1689-1694) (- William III (1689-1702))
- Anne I (1702-1714)

➢ James I (1603-1625)
- queen Elizabeth had no heir (no children), Scottish king -> James I (son of Mary Stuart, Protestant)
- 1603 as key date: for first time two nations (Scottish & English) united under
one crown -> tendency to unification of British Isles
→ marked the ‘Union of the Crowns’ of England and Scotland (advantage:
Scotland could not make alliances with English enemies e.g. France)

➢ James I and Great Britain

- 1606: all ships of England and Scotland should use a common flag
- nevertheless England and Scotland both remained separate kingdoms with one common ruler
-

 2. The English Civil War & the Republic (1642-1660) 

 What happened?
- often called ‘English Revolution’ -> two sides: Monarch (King Charles I), his policies became less popular and Parliament
- (enemy of the king)
- Parliament: Upper Chamber/Lower Chamber; representatives mainly aristocrats; only met when king decided that he
- needed help and dealt with decisions of the king
- -> decided on taxation (prime weapon of Parliament to gain power over king) -> Charles I needed taxes to fight a war
- against Scotland (religious struggles between Scottish church and English church)
- -> power over money -> more rights in exchange for taxes for the king = basis of the struggle
- Charles tried to make himself more powerful: king chosen by god, only answerable to god -> higher rank than Parliament
- 1628: House of Commons demanded rights -> Charles I dissolved Parliament, ruled without it for 12 years
- tensions with Scottish more intense -> needed money -> taxes -> ask Parliament
- ‘Short Parliament’ of 1640 (Charles I dissolved it again because he wasn’t happy with their decisions and actions)
- ‘Long Parliament’ (1640-1660), again realized: no taxes without Parliament
- - limitation of king’s power: could not dissolve Parliament on his own, only the Parliament could do that
- - as an answer Charles I entered Parliament and tried to arrest main leaders but they escaped
- - John Pym = leader of rebellious Parliament
→ king tried to establish an army to crash Parliament; Parliament did so too

❖ The Struggle between King & Parliament

- conflict of strength between King and Parliament
- rebellion in Ireland 1641: Ireland = Catholic -> Parliament feared: Charles I would bring in Catholic enemy to supress
- Protestant Parliament

 Puritans and Levellers

- Puritans: dominated Parliament; thoughts different from Anglican church; free of Catholic influence/of Pope and Roman
- church; new organisation of the church: no hierarchies -> modernise → thoughts opposed to majority of people
- Levellers: group in Parliament; wanted to abolish all existing governments and establish a new democratic institution

➢ The Outbreak of
the Civil War  The Civil War
- Charles I fled from London - Marston moor near York in June 1644
to Oxford -> starting point of - New Model Army: created by Parliament =
violent confrontation first professional fighting force in England,
- ‘Battle of Edgehill’ in based on meritocracy, leaders are those who
October 1642: both parties are the most successful (no aristocratic commanders
claimed the victory -> allowed); payed people to fight for them ->
starting point of Civil War gained their loyalty; introduction of red coat
- Parliamentarians or - king’s influence became smaller
Roundheads vs. Royalists or - Scots entered war -> betrayed Charles I,
Cavaliers handed him over to the English

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 The Beheading of Charles I

- defeat of the Scots at Preston: Civil war was over
- ‘Rump Parliament’: = trick; only radical minority wanted to kill Charles I, so on the day when the fate of king was decided
- they placed guardians at the entrance of parliament who led those members into the building which
- support those radical measures -> only a minority decided on the king’s fate
- January 1649: public beheading of Charles I at Whitehall in London

 The ‘Commonwealth’ (1649-1660)

- on 6 February 1649 the monarchy was formally abolished (there was no king anymore); new form of
government = the Commonwealth; Parliament ruler of the nation
- expression used to express common interests
- Scotland fully integrated; Ireland violently supressed

 Oliver Cromwell
- ‘Lord Protector’ and Head of State from 1653-1658
- joined Parliament when Civil War broke out, created unity of England Scotland and Ireland, created
mot professional and fearsome army in Europe, built navy for protection across the sea
- was offered to be king -> declined because of religious reasons and because of his New Model Army
(fought to abolish monarchy, would lose this fore -> less powerful)

▪ Why Restoration?
- son Richard as successor (ironic -> like a monarchy); army and Parliament didn’t support him - his power declined
- Parliament had idea of Restoration: why did Parliament support that? (authority of ‘Lord Protector wasn’t clear’, governors of army most
powerful -> threat)
- also: Puritanism was not popular so the ruling part of the Commonwealth didn’t have sympathy of the people
-> Parliament reintroduced monarchy

 Consequences of the Civil War

- disintegration of English Puritanism (people fed up with Commonwealth and strict rules of Puritans)
- weakening of the Church of England: tolerate all religions
- trauma of regicide (= legal killing of a king)
→ led to Restoration of Charles II

 3. Restoration & ‘Glorious Revolution’ 

➢ Charles II and the Question of Succession
- Charles II was restored (son of Charles I)
- religious divide between churchmen and dissenters (= Puritans)

▪ James II
- Catholic brother James became King James II
- programme of re-Catholicisation intended
- when he would die -> his son would succeed -> Parliament had fear of Catholic rulers (Catholics seen as the enemies of the English)

 The Glorious Revolution (1689)

- Whigs (criticized king and Catholicism, led by protestant aristocrats) and Tories (supported English church + Catholic king James II)
- Whigs decided to look for another candidate for the throne of England
- plan to invite William of Orange (Stadholder of the United Provinces; from Dutch republic) to come to England
- -> why him?: fighting for Protestant religion, enemy of France, married to daughter of James II (English)
- Why did he agree?: needed allies to fight against France
- James II escaped (no power to fight a war) -> William was given the crown by Parliament (end of Stuarts’ reign)
- “glorious” -> peaceful takeover of power, “revolution” -> bring back order of the past (non-Catholic ruler)

 The Glorious Revolution: The Bill of Rights

- no Catholic king/queen ever sitting on English throne in future
- no monarch should have absolute power -> Parliament secured it’s power
- birth of modern reign of government, pathed way for -
industrial revolution

GUIDING QUESTIONS
1) Describe the origins and the outcome
of the English Civil War.
2) Which factors led to the restoration
of monarchy in 1660?
3) What was the ‘Glorious Revolution’
and what were its effects?
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