Episcopal Wars

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King James I.

The so-called Episcopal Wars are an episode of the wars between the three kingdoms . They were passed between England and Scotland in 1639 and 1640 . The episcopal wars had far-reaching consequences; so the English civil war between King and Parliament is due not least to these wars.

background

The Reformation and the rise of Protestantism led to a violent dispute between England, whose King Henry VIII , who proclaimed himself head of the Church of England , and Scotland, where the Presbyterian movement was growing in popularity, that of the Church of Scotland , the so-called "Kirk" belonged to. King James VI of Scotland installed bishops in agreement with the Church and Parliament, while Henry VIII personally decided who would become bishop .

After James had ascended the English throne (as James I), he very successfully adopted more and more of the usual procedures in England. His son, Charles I of England, was not so tactful and tried to impose his will on the Church of Scotland through bishops he liked. When he finally tried in 1637 to introduce a prayer book based on the English liturgy in Scotland, riots broke out. The initiator of these uprisings was the market woman Jenny Geddes , who threw a chair at the pastor during the introduction of the prayer book in St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh . An opposition to Karl’s measures developed, which committed himself to maintaining Presbyterianism (signing the National Covenant , see Covenanters ).

Karl tried to regulate the situation from London by royal decrees, but this did not succeed. Therefore he decided in 1638 to take military action against the insurgents. To buy time, he called a general assembly of the Church of Scotland, which met in November 1638 in Glasgow . The assembly decided against his ideas, however, by excommunicating two of his bishops loyal to the line and also abolishing the prayer book he had introduced.

The insurgents received prominent support from James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose , and Archibald Campbell, 8th Earl of Argyll , as well as from soldiers returning to Scotland from military service on mainland Europe, including General Alexander Leslie .

First Episcopal War (1639)

Although Charles I suffered from severe financial problems, in the summer of 1639 he raised an army of 20,000 soldiers and marched towards the Scottish border. In Berwick-upon-Tweed he was suddenly faced with a well-organized force under General Leslie. Since neither of them wanted to attack, they agreed on a peace agreement, according to which the king should settle all open questions through a second general assembly of the Church of Scotland or the Scottish Parliament .

Interlude

The new general assembly repeated all resolutions of the first assembly. The Scottish Parliament went even further and renounced royal control. Karl, in possession of a letter from the Scottish Parliament requesting that Louis XIII be mediated . of France, believed this supposed treason would earn him the support of the English Parliament. After he had ruled alone for eleven years, he therefore convened a parliament again in April 1640. The so-called Short Parliament , however, completely ignored the letter to Ludwig and instead made extensive demands on Karl, so u. a. the abolition of the shipbuilding tax and the complete restructuring of the church system. Charles I's demands were too far-reaching to conquer Scotland, and he dissolved Parliament again. A new war with Scotland was imminent.

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford

Second Episcopal War (1640)

Thomas Wentworth , now Earl of Strafford , was appointed chief adviser to the king. He took over Karl's plans and never missed an opportunity to raise money and supplies for a military expedition to Scotland. However, the army's morale was so bad that even its commanders could not lead a powerful army into battle. The Scots crossed the Tweed with their commanders Leslie and Montrose and Karl's army fled. In a short time the counties of Northumberland and Durham were overrun (see also Battle of Newburn ). When it finally came to the Treaty of Ripon on October 26, 1640, Charles had to leave both counties to the Scots as pledge until he had reimbursed them for their war expenses.

The king now had to convene parliament again so that this would grant him the means to pay the Scots. The now convened Long Parliament attacked the king violently, criticized his leadership and demanded that his advisors Strafford and William Laud should be removed and executed. Hoping to find support in Scotland, he traveled there in the autumn of 1641 and bestowed titles of nobility on Leslie and Argyll. He also agreed to recognize all resolutions of the General Assembly of 1638 and the Scottish Parliament of 1641, including the right of Parliament to criticize the actions of ministers.

Charles had now resolved all problems in Scotland, but his conflicts with the English Parliament eventually led to the outbreak of the English Civil War .

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Primary literature

  • The Letters and Journals of Robert Baillie, AM Principal of the University of Glasgow. M.DC.XXXVII. - M.DC.LXII. 3 volumes. Edited from the Author's Manuscripts by David Laing. Robert Ogle, Edinburgh 1841–1842, digitized volume 1 , digitized volume 2 , digitized volume 3 .
  • Calender of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of King Charles I. 23 volumes. Longman & Co., London 1858–1997 (reprint. Kraus, Nendeln / Liechtenstein 1967).
  • The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland. Edited and abridged by John Hill Burton . HM General Register House, Edinburgh 1905-1906;
    • 2nd Series, Volume 6: 1635-1637. 1905, digitized ;
    • 2nd Series, Volume 7: 1638-1643. 1906, digitized .
  • John, Earl of Rothes: A Relation of Proceedings concerning the Affairs of the Kirk of Scotland, from August 1637 to July 1638. Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh 1830, digitized .
  • James Gordon, Parson of Rothiernay: History of Scots Affairs, from MDCXXXVII to MDCXLI (= Spalding Club. Vol. 1, 1-3, ZDB -ID 1014876-0 ). 3 volumes. Edited by Joseph Robertson & George Grub. Spalding Club, Aberdeen 1841, digitized volume 1 , digitized volume 2 , digitized volume 3 ..
  • Diary of Sir Archibald Johnston of Wariston. 3 volumes. Constable, Edinburgh 1911-1940;
    • Volume 1: 1632-1639 (= Publications of the Scottish History Society. Vol. 61, ISSN  0957-6274 ). Edited by George M. Paul. 1911, digitized ;
    • Volume 2: 1650-1654 (= Publications of the Scottish History Society. Series 2, Vol. 18). Edited by David Hay Fleming. 1919, digitized ;
    • Volume 3: 1655-1660 (= Publications of the Scottish History Society. Series 3, Vol. 34). Edited by David Hay Fleming. 1940.

Secondary literature

  • Peter Donald: To Uncounselled King. Charles I and the Scottish Troubles, 1637-1641. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 1990, ISBN 0-521-37235-6 .
  • Mark Charles Fissel: The Bishops' Wars. Charles I's Campaigns against Scotland, 1638-1640. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994, ISBN 0-521-34520-0 .
  • Maurice Lee: The Road to Revolution. Scotland under Charles I, 1625-37. University of Illinois Press, Urbana IL et al. 1985, ISBN 0-252-01136-8 .
  • Florence N. McCoy: Robert Baillie and the Second Scots Reformation. University of California Press, Berkeley CA et al. 1974, ISBN 0-520-02447-8 .
  • Allan I. Macinnes: Charles I and the Making of the Covenanting Movement. 1625-1641. Donald, Edinburgh 1991, ISBN 0-85976-295-5 .
  • Conrad Russell: The Fall of the British Monarchies. 1637-1642 , Clarendon Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-822754-X .
  • David Stevenson: The Scottish Revolution. 1637-1644. The Triumph of the Covenanters. David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1973, ISBN 0-7153-6302-6 (also: Glasgow, dissertation, 1970).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oxford Reference: Treaty of Ripon , accessed December 4, 2017