In my last paper, I discussed that the English Civil War and Puritan Revolution was primarily caused by the ideas of King Charles I and Parliament. While political and religious ideas heavily influenced Charles I and Parliament, the better explanation is in the Annales school perspective. The intellectual perspective does not take into account the long history of Christian influence on England. Ideas are too focused on the événement, whereas the longue duréeallows for an examination of the long-term evolution of religious and political development.1 This paper will examine the genealogy of the English Civil War and Puritan Revolution by using the Braudel’s paradigm of the longue durée, conjoncture, and the événement.

The longue durée of Christianity and feudalism in England was the incredibly long, slow moving time of about 1000 years before Charles I became king. The rise of Christianity in England began in the late sixth century when Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine on a mission to England to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxons.2 King Æthelberht of Kent became the first English monarch to convert to Christianity and Augustine became the Archbishop of Canterbury.3 Christianity took hold in England and at the end of the seventh century, the last pagan king died.4 Around the same time that Christianity was spreading around England, feudalism was also taking root. The unity of Christianity and the feudal system of government remained largely unchanged for several centuries. In the 12th century, the government began a slow transition out of feudalism with the Magna Carta and when King Henry II turned knighthood from the “the satisfactory completion of a military apprentice… [to] a qualification for public duties lying far outside the sphere of feudal obligation.”5 It was not until the sixteenth century when a major shift would occur in the Christian religion when Martin Luther led a reformation of Catholic practices.6 Luther’s reformations divided the “Christian belief and resulted in the division of Western Christendom between Roman Catholicism and the new Protestant traditions.”7 During this same time, King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife Catherine “because she was too old to give him an heir.”8 After it was not granted by the pope, Henry “proceeded to act through Parliament, and had the entire body of the clergy in England declared guilty of treason in 1531.”9 Henry was excommunicated from the Catholic church which led to the English Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England. However, Henry was staunchly against Lutheranism and maintained Catholic practices. Puritanism was the by-product of some Christians believing that the supposed Protestant Church of England was too Catholic.10 King Henry did not look kindly to the Protestant reformations and had Protestants burned for heresy.11

Over the course of the 78 years, between Henry’s death in 1547 and Charles I ascending to the throne in 1625, England experienced a series of turbulent religious and political events that explains why Charles I was doomed to fail. In 1547, Henry’s son, Edward VI, was only nine years old when he took the throne. He was “tutored by men who were zealous advocates of evangelical reform” and during his short reign of just six years the Protestant movement expanded rapidly.12 After his death, Edward’s sister, Mary was crowned queen and the religious pendulum swung back the other way. Mary was a staunch Catholic, and “as a devout Roman Catholic obtained the restoration of papal supremacy and sanctioned the persecution of Protestants.”13 Mary I died in 1558 and her half-sister, Elizabeth I, assumed the throne. England endured yet another drastic religious shift when Elizabeth took the crown. “Through her Religious Settlement of 1559 she enforced the Protestant religion by law.”14 Over the course of Elizabeth’s 45-year reign, England and Scotland become Protestant. The Puritans were unhappy with Elizabeth’s religious settlements and several were imprisoned or executed.”15 Elizabeth expanded the economy of England but in turn created monopolies. By the end of Elizabeth’s reign, “Parliament showed a new independence” by forcing the queen to withdraw from the idea of creating monopolies.16 Parliament’s new sense of independence and the Puritans persecution by the Crown is likely the reason both groups were more hostile towards Charles I’s reign. If Parliament had stayed the same as it had for many decades and the Puritans were not persecuted by the Crown, it is likely Charles I would not have had as much opposition as he did.

The English and Scottish crowns together were brought together when James I ascended to the throng in 1603. However, it was in 1625 when Charles I became King that the decades of religious fighting between the Catholics and the Protestants finally reached a boiling point. Charles married a Catholic and the Puritans were convinced Charles was going to reinstate the Catholic Church in England and Scotland.17 For example, Charles tried to replace the prayer book in Scotland which resulted in the Edinburgh riots in 1637.18 Eventually, the Scots rebelled and in 1640, Parliament was reassembled by Charles to raise money for his war in Scotland. Parliament, likely looking back to the precedent of challenging the monarch that was set in Elizabeth’s reign, decided instead to pass several political reformations. After years of political and religious turbulence and Civil War, Charles was arrested and tried for treason and executed by Puritan leaders that has risen to power. After decades of persecution by the Crown, the Puritans had secured power to reform the government and religious practices. If England had not had several reversals on religious policy it is likely Charles would not have been strongly opposed the moment he was crowned King.

The longue duree shows the religious and political evolution in England. It examines the long, slow movement of time one thousand years before Charles gained the crown. The conjoncture explains how after Henry VIII, potential for a civil war began to speed up. The turbulent religious shifts that followed Henry’s reign and Elizabeth’s reign paved the way for Parliament to stand up to the Crown and for each religious group to feel they were next to be persecuted. The reign of Charles was very turbulent. Because of the long duration of religious fighting before he was born, it would have been difficult for a religious man like Charles to unite an already deeply religiously divided country.  

Notes

1.     Lynn Hunt, “French History in the Last Twenty Years: The Rise and Fall of the Annales Paradigm,” Journal of Contemporary History 21, no. 2 (April 1986): 209–24, https://www.jstor.org/stable/260364.

 

2.     “Who Was St Augustine? | English Heritage,” English Heritage, 2019, https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/st-augustines-abbey/history-and-stories/who-was-st-augustine/.

 

3.     Ibid

 

4.     Ibid

 

5.     F. M. Stenton, “THE CHANGING FEUDALISM of the MIDDLE AGES,” History 19, no. 76 (March 1935): 289–301, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24401321.

 

6.     H. J. Hillerbrand, “Martin Luther | Biography, Reformation, Works, & Facts,” in Encyclopædia Britannica, February 14, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther.

 

7.     Ibid

 

8.     “King Henry VIII | Britroyals,” Britroyals.com, 2019, https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=henry8.

 

9.     Ibid

 

10.  Francis J Bremer, Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p.4.

 

11.  “King Henry VIII | Britroyals,” Britroyals.com, 2019, https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=henry8.

 

12.  Francis J Bremer, Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p.4.

 

13.  “Queen Mary I | Britroyals,” www.britroyals.com, 2019, https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=mary1.

 

14.  “Queen Elizabeth I | Britroyals,” Britroyals.com, 2019, https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=elizabeth1.

 

15.  Ibid

 

16.  Ibid

 

17.  Keith Lindley, The English Civil War and Revolution: A Sourcebook (Oxon: Routledge, 2003), p. 7.

 

18.  Ibid, p. 45-50.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Bremer, Francis J. Puritanism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

 

Hillerbrand, H. J. “Martin Luther | Biography, Reformation, Works, & Facts.” In Encyclopædia Britannica, February 14, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Luther.

 

Hunt, Lynn. “French History in the Last Twenty Years: The Rise and Fall of the Annales Paradigm.” Journal of Contemporary History 21, no. 2 (April 1986): 209–24. https://www.jstor.org/stable/260364.

 

“King Henry VIII | Britroyals.” Britroyals.com, 2019. https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=henry8.

 

Lindley, Keith. The English Civil War and Revolution: A Sourcebook. Oxon: Routledge, 2003.

 

“Queen Elizabeth I | Britroyals.” Britroyals.com, 2019. https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=elizabeth1.

 

“Queen Mary I | Britroyals.” www.britroyals.com, 2019. https://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=mary1.

 

Stenton, F. M. “THE CHANGING FEUDALISM of the MIDDLE AGES.” History 19, no. 76 (March 1935): 289–301. https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24401321.

 

“Who Was St Augustine? | English Heritage.” English Heritage, 2019. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/st-augustines-abbey/history-and-stories/who-was-st-augustine/.

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