Charles faces Manchester at Newbury – and Montrose and Macolla create mayhem in Scotland

The King and people of London face off at Turnham Green

Both sides lay out their stalls. And Henry Parker lays out some underlying foundations of English political thought

The Royal fightback begins. A party to control parliament for the king

The dramatic story of the trial and judgement of the Earl of Strafford

Charles’ response to the Scottish Declaration was severe; but it also caused a division in the Junto, and among MPs. Meanwhile, as poublic religious debate exploded, divisions also grew betweenRead More

‘I expect not anything can reduce that people to obedience but force only’ Charles wrote in 1638. The following year that would be put to the test. in the First Bishops War (Bishops not included).

In 1633 Thomas Wentworth arrived in Ireland – and despite great administrative efficiency, managed to separately outrage each of the components of Irish Society Meanwhile in London, William Prynne and John Lillburne stood form against tyranny.

Charles had done the right thing of we wanted to avoid parliaments – reducing costs by making peace. But, how was he to raise money to clear that £2m debt? Well, two words came in to play – many, and various.

The battle of Lutter in 1626 convinced Charles of the tearing need to intervene in the Thirty Years War in defence of hos sister Elizabeth’s rights and in the cause of Protestantism. But the cupboard was bare – how to raise money? Without calling that pesky parliament!

The 1626 parliament was opened by William Laud – not a good sign for the resolutely Calvinist parliament. Despite a remarkably positive response to the call for subsidies – their linkage to resolutions of grievances did not go down well with Charles

As the 1626 parliament opens, full of hope once more, we take a while to introduce William Laud, and discuss the idea that a theme of the English civil wars is an ideological struggle between lawyers and Arminian clerics