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English Civil War Politics and the Religious Settlement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Lawrence Kaplan
Lawrence Kaplan
Affiliation:
Assistant professor of history in The City College, The City University of New York.
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Extract

One of the more active historical controversies centers around the precise relationship of religion to politics during the period of the English Civil War. While all historians recognize the crucial role played by Puritans in the rebellion against Charles I, the extent to which religious considerations influenced political activity within the Long Parliament remains open to question. A major reason for the dispute is that terms used by contemporaries tend to be misleading. Thus, the two parties which are said to have dominated the Long Parliament during the 1640s are known by descriptive names (“the Presbyterians” and “the Independents”) that the bear little resemblance to their actual platforms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , September 1972 , pp. 307 - 325
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1972

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References

1. Underdown, David, “The Independents Reconsidered,” Journal of British Studies, 3 (1964), pp.57–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar; George Yule, “Independents and Revolutionaries,” Ibid., 7 (1968), pp. 11–32; David Underdown, “The Independents Again,” Ibid., 8 (1968), pp. 83–93; Pearl, Valerie, “The Royal Independents in the English Civil War,” Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., 5th Ser., 18 (1968), pp. 69–96CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Foster, Stephan, “The Presbyterian Independents Exorcized,” Past and Present, 44 (1969), pp. 52–75CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kaplan, Lawrence, “Presbyterians and Independents in 1643,” English Historical Review, 84 (1969), pp. 244–256CrossRefGoogle Scholar; “Debate: Presbyterians, Independents and Puritans,” Past and Present, 47 (1970), pp. 116–146.Google Scholar

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5. Robert Baillie wrote in regard to the Uxbridge Treaty: “We have gotten such articles past the Committee of Both Kingdoms and transmitted to both Houses as [Lord] Warriston has brought down; they are of our framing.” Ibid., pp. 172, 177.

6. Richard Baxter observed that after Moor, Marston, “the Scots army lay on the north a long time, and did nothing till thereby they became odious as a burden to the land.” Reliquiae Baxterianae, ed., Matthew Sylvester (London, 1696), p. 49.Google Scholar

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14. Ibid.

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21. Both the New Model Army ordinance and the Self-Denying Ordinance were passed at this time.

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25. Most of the leaders of the peace group were Erastians. Some, like Denzil Holles and the Earl of Esser, were favorably disposed toward episcopacy. Clarendon, l, p. 309.

26. Evidence for this is the fact that the Scots never reproached the peace party for their support of the Erastian settlement of 1646. This is in sharp contrast to their vehement denunciations of the war party's espousal of accommodation of tender consciences in Septemper, 1644, and the subsequent rupture of their alliance with the war party.

27. Baillie, for example, regarded Cromwell's attack on Manchester in November, 1644, as “a high and mighty plot of the Independent party to have gotten an army for themselves under Cromwell.” Baillie, 2, p. 246; see also Ibid., pp. 279–281, 287.

28. Clarendon, 3, p. 506.

29. See below p. 316 for additional evidence.

30. Hexter, J. H., “The Problem of the Presbyterian Independents,” in Reappraisals in History (Aberdeen, 1962), pp. 163–184Google Scholar; and also Underdown, David, “The Independents Reconsidered,” The Journal of British Studies, 3 (1964), pp. 57–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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32. Ibid., pp. 360–361. Baillie became so enraged at Coleman that he described him as “a man reasonably learned, but stupid and inconsiderate, half a peasant, and of small estimation.”

33. Hopes deferred and dashed, T. T., E. 294 (14).

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35. A Sermon preached…, T. T., E. 298 (12).

36. One further invitation was given to Gillespie on September, 5, 1645, for an extraordinary fast related to the difficulties of the Scottish nation. This was to be the last time a Scots minister delivered a sermon to Parliament.; See Wilson, John F.,Pulpit in Parliament (Princeton, 1969), p. 85.Google Scholar

37. Most notably by Gardiner, S. R., History of the Great Civil War, 4 Vols. (London, 1893).Google Scholar

38. The relevant pieces of legislation were the following: Ordinance regulating the election of elders, August 19, 1645, Firth, C. H. and Rait, R. S., ed., Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum (London, 1911)Google Scholar [cited hereafter as Acts and Ordinances ], pp. 749–754; Ordinance concerning suspension from the sacrament, October 20, 1645, Ibid., pp. 789–797; Ordinance for keeping of scandalous persons from the sacrament [and] the enabling of congregations for the choice of elders, etc., March 14, 1646, Ibid., pp. 833–838; Ordinance to exclude improper persons from the sacrament, June 5, 1646, Ibid., pp. 852–855.

39. Baillie, 2, p. 362.

40. Lords Journal, 8, p. 202.Google Scholar

41. Commons Journal, 4, pp. 359, 257.Google Scholar Strode died in September, 1645.

42. Baillie, 2, p. 359; Commons Journal, 4, p. 228.Google Scholar D. N. B.

43. Baillie 2, p. 237. Commons Journal, 4, p. 213.Google Scholar D. N. B.

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46. A Short Narrative … of Sir Philip Stapleton, Aug. 18, 1644, T. T., E. 409 (3).

47. Baillie, 2 p. 362. The City, on March 14, 1646, did deliver a critical petition to Parliament but, when told by the House of Commons not to present any more petitions of that kind, they meekly obeyed; Whitacre, Laurence, Diary of the Proceedings in the House of Commons, British Museum, Add MSS, 31, 116Google Scholar, folio 259.

48. T. T., E. 669, f.10 (68).

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55. Mitchell and Struthers, p. 28.

56. Baillie, 2, p. 230.

57. Ibid., p. 326.

58. Deletion in the original, Woodhouse, A. S. P. ed., Puritanism and Liberty (Chicago, 1951), p. 296.Google Scholar

59. Mitchell and Struthers, p. 132.

60. Baillie, 2, p. 270.

61. Mitchell and Struthers, p. 72.

62. Baillie, 2, p. 299.

63. Ibid.

64. Ibid., pp. 317–318.

65. Woodhouse, pp. 125–178.

66. Baillie, 2, pp. 229–230.

67. A Copy of a Remonstrance, November 12, 1645, T. T., E. 309 (4).

68. Woodhouse, p. 133.

69. Ibid., p. 160. Brackets in the original.

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71. Baillie, 2, pp. 336–337. See also Meikle, passim.

72. Commons Journal, 4, p. 592.Google Scholar

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74. Commons Journal, 4, pp. 22–28.Google Scholar

75. Two Letters, January 23, 1645, T. T., E. 294 (4).

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77. Ibid.

78. Mitchell and Struthers, p. 77.

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82. Baillie, 2, p. 286.

83. Lords Journal, 7, p. 362.Google Scholar

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87. Whitelock, 1, p. 493.

88. Whitacre, fulio 471.

89. Commons Journal, 4, p. 324.Google Scholar

90. Ibid., p. 339.

91. Acts and Ordinances, pp. 833–838.

92. Ibid., pp. 852–855.

93. Baillie, 2, p. 357.

94. Ibid.