17th Century England

Lesson 7: The Road to War 1642

It's Formal - This is War II

After June, Parliament began to secure their own newly created unique position. Backing up their legal stance and gaining the trust of men were their main objectives.

Parliament moved fast in the preparations for war, passing ordinances now that only required the assent of the Houses of Commons and Lords before becoming law. It enacted a law stating that loans of plate, money and horses should be borrowed at a rate of 8 per cent.

It went on to decree that anyone who failed to obey the Militia Ordinance, which stated that Parliament controlled the armed forces, or those who attempted to support the King’s right, were delinquents.

Parliament then ordered the seizure of any horse, money, plate or munitions of war that were on their way to the King. The King meanwhile had issued Commissions of Array, which were ancient forms of commanding local landlords to raise so many men for his service, though they had long been in disuse.

In an attempt to undermine the King, Parliament ordered the lawyer John Seldon to investigate the legality of Commissions of Array. Seldon proclaimed the Commissions of Array illegal, but went on to say that Parliament’s Militia Ordinance was also illegal.

On 15th July, Parliament appointed Lord Essex as commander-in-chief. By August, Parliament’s new ordinance had decreed that all customs duties should go to it and not the King. The Lord Mayor of London was replaced with a Parliament man, completing Parliament’s preparations up to the raising of the King’s standard.

Parliament was way ahead now, with taxes flowing in, men being raised and the City of London under its control. The first battle would only be just over two months away from 22nd August, the date when Charles’s banner was unfurled in Nottingham.

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