The Battle of Edgehill
If you haven’t read my posts about Queen Mary I, it’ll sure come in handy today as background information.
Today is October 23, 2017, and on this date, 375 years back, in 1642, the Battle of Edgehill started the First English Civil War.
The First English Civil War was fought, on one side, by King Charles I and his supporters, the Royalists. Charles believed in his divine right as king, and preferred absolute monarchy, which granted him superior authority in all matters. Opposing him were the Parliamentarians, who supported the ability of a strong Parliament to check the King’s power.
Given that the Magna Carta of 1215 gave the original basis for a parliamentary system in England, it had evolved considerably over 400 years. Parliament had become more organized, and much more powerful. In fact, King James, Charles’ father and predecessor, was notably cooperative with Parliament during most of his reign, which was by and large a peaceful golden age.
Charles didn’t learn much from James though. Following the start of his reign in 1625, Charles refused to convene a Parliament in order to marry Henrietta Maria, a French princess, without opposition. And a Parliament would have opposed, as she was Roman Catholic. Remember, Henry VII began the Reformation in 1532. Bloody Mary undid it all and restored Catholicism in 1553. And Elizabeth voided Mary’s laws in 1558, cementing the Anglican Church’s place. More Catholic vs. Protestant drama would not have been tolerated by any Parliament.
To make matters worse, once Charles did open his Parliament, after his wedding, he assured them that he would not alter any laws pertaining to religion. What he didn’t tell them was that he had a secret treaty with France’s Louis XIII (part of the wedding contract) saying that he would do exactly that! And even worse, he agreed to loan the French several British naval ships that were to be used against French Huguenots, a persecuted class of Protestants. Ultimately, because Charles was a fickle liar, this never came to pass.
This was just the beginning of the poor relationship Charles fostered with his Parliament. It got worse and worse. By 1627 he launched an attack against France, defending the Huguenots, but attempted to fund the efforts through taxes levied without Parliament’s consent, a huge no-no. The rest of his reign was chock full of conflicts with Parliament, and missteps concerning religion in his realms. He ordered Scotland to use a new prayer book, which sparked a riot at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh when it made its first appearance, and subsequently inspired the National Covenant pledging to reject any religious changes not authorized by the Scottish Parliament and Kirk (Scottish Church). This riot grew into a full-blown rebellion known as the Bishops’ Wars by 1639, which was a complete calamity for Charles.
In 1641, Charles also faced a rebellion in Ireland. If it’s not clear enough, Charles was quite the screw-up. But still, he was King, and had no intentions of going away. So, in 1642, he raised his Royalist Army, and the Parliamentarians raised their army.
They met at Edge Hill, Warwickshire on October 23 for what would be the first pitched battle of the Civil War. The Parliamentarians outnumbered the Royalists 15,000 to 12,400, but the Royalists had slightly more mounted troops and more artillery, evening things out. The battle itself is fairly inconsequential to this story. Nothing particularly amazing happened. Both sides suffered nearly identical losses. And there was no clear winner or loser.
It was simply the first battle of a four year long war, which itself was the first of three different wars to determine the fate of England.
Thanks for reading and be sure to check back tomorrow for one the blackest spots on American history that you’ve probably never heard of.
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