by Hannah Curtis

Created on: February 05, 2009

There are both long and short term causes of every war and the English civil war that commenced in the seventeenth century was no exception. All wars are sad; however wars that break out within a country, dividing it in two are heartbreaking. The English civil war broke out in 1642 during the reign of King Charles I, he certainly played a large role in causing the war and he was executed by common demand of the people, led by the infamous Oliver Cromwell.

The main long term cause was the decline in social standing and authority of the monarchy. The rise of power amongst the people, in the commencement of the Parliament lessoned the ultimate authority and the time old tradition of the divine right of Kings. This was a belief which been attached to kings since the commencement of the role in Biblical times, that God had personally appointed and blessed the King, thus God ruled the people through his agent. But now the people had a say in the running of the country and in the King's decision, and there was friction between Charles' father, King James I and his Parliament, a poor, unbalanced relationship between the two. James still expected to make all the decisions and for the Parliament to simply concur with his wishes. This was not to be the case however; James was dependent upon the Parliament for his income, as they were wealthier then him and had control over his income through the custom duties.

James acted in 1611 and brought Parliament to a close, a state of affairs which was to continue until 1621, while James ran the country with the aid of his trusted friends. Naturally this rankled with the members of Parliament who believed that they were entitled to run the country. The relationship between the two did not improve with the re-commencement of Parliament, as James brought forward the proposal of a marriage between Charles and a Spanish Princess. This was to cause an rift between the two, even though the marriage never took place, as a result of the strained history between Spain and England since the Spanish Armada. James died in 1625 never having reconciled a peace between King and Parliament.

The short term cause of the war revolved around Charles I and the Parliament. The situation between King and State was only to worsen once he came to power. Charles was extremely arrogant and pompous, in his eyes he was King thus the divine right ruled supreme. He was consequently against the idea of Parliament in principle, and did not care for its members,

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