Background

From 1629 to 1640 Charles I ruled without calling Parliament into session, fearing it would attempt to reduce his powers. When William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and an important adviser to the king, tried to impose on Scotland the religious practices of the Church of England, the Scots revolted in 1639. (The subsequent conflict came to be known as the Bishops' Wars.) Charles called Parliament into session to raise money to fight the Scots. The parliament that met in 1640 did not disband until 1660. (

Instead of voting funds to put down the Scottish rebellion, Parliament sought to establish itself supreme over the king. It abolished several royal administrative and judicial bodies and reaffirmed the Petition of Right, a statute limiting the monarch's powers. ( The Earl of Strafford, a powerful supporter of the king's authority, was put to death in 1641 on a questionable charge of high treason. Laud was jailed, also on a charge of treason.

By a narrow margin, the House of Commons voted approval of the Grand Remonstrance, a list of grievances against the king and of demands for governmental and church reforms. Charles then appeared in Parliament at the head of a company of soldiers. He intended to arrest John Pym, John Hampden, and three other leaders of the Commons, but found that they had already fled. Charles left London to raise an army against Parliament. On August 22, 1642, in an act comparable to a declaration of war, he called on the English people to rally to his side.