History of England: A Captivating Guide to English History, Starting from Antiquity through the Rule of the Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, Normans, and Tudors to the End of World War 2 (Captivating History) by Captivating History

Author:Captivating History [History, Captivating]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, pdf
Published: 2019-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen – The Protectorate

Cromwell appointed his own government and called it the Council of State. His first order of business was to arrest King Charles and have him tried in court for treason against England. While the war continued between the royalist army and that of Cromwell, the deposed king was hidden in southern England under the protection of his own guards. In 1644, the Oxford Parliament was assembled to support the king, but it faltered the next year.[92] Charles rode into battle with his army several times as the civil war dragged on, but by that time, the parliamentary forces were gaining ground on the royalists. Support for Cromwell’s Protectorate rule was widespread, and the Lord Protector’s army was enthusiastic in defending his authority. The fighting became so chaotic that Charles was forced to entrust his life in the hands of the Scottish army, who took him north to Newcastle upon Tyne. The Scots negotiated with Cromwell’s government for nine long months before finally coming to an agreement: They would hand Charles over to the English Parliament in exchange for £100,000 upon delivery and more money afterward in installments.[93] The Scottish army delivered Charles to the parliamentary commissioners in January of 1647.[94]

Cromwell sent the recaptured prisoner to Holdenby House in Northamptonshire. Outside, divisions appeared among the anti-royalist army, which split into one group of those loyal to Cromwell, known as the Parliamentarians, and another called the New Model Army. The New Model Army wanted more control in government administration, while the Parliamentarians preferred to establish the Church of England as a Puritanical Presbyterian body, and then step down and give up their authority. Charles fully realized that the factious state of his opponent’s army could be very beneficial to him, so he therefore went willingly with the New Model Army when it arrived at Holdenby House to take him into its own custody. Charles enjoyed a great deal of authority with the New Model Army, and when he encouraged his new captors to take him to Hampton Court, they obliged.

Charles managed once more to flee his lavish prison, but he wrongfully trusted Colonel Robert Hammond, the parliamentary governor of the Isle of Wight, and ended up back in custody soon afterward. This time, he was held at Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. Charles was treated well and given every opportunity to repent of what his opponent deemed to be the sin of treason, but Charles refused to do so. Instead of seeking diplomacy, Charles simply refused to recognize the authority of Lord Protector Cromwell or to accept that England’s ancient monarchy had been defeated. Instead, he tried ceaselessly to negotiate with outside parties who might secure his release. One of those parties was the Scottish government, whom he decided to trust despite the Scottish army’s having turned him over to the English Parliament less than one year prior. Nevertheless, on December 26th, 1647, Charles signed a secret treaty with Scotland.[95] The terms were that Scotland must

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