Hello and Welcome to Western sev Episode four hundred and sixty one, The Fall of the Earl. In July of sixteen forty, the Lord General of the Scottish Forces, Alexander Leslie, began to create the nucleus of the army that would once again take the fight into England. His intention was to seize Newcastle. By seizing the coal at Newcastle, he could put pressure on Charles down in London to hopefully resolve the matters in the favor of the Scottish covenanters.
Leslie's contacts in England had in fact assured him that the next Parliament, when summoned, would demand that the King sign a peace treaty. If Charles didn't, Leslie would assured that the Parliament would give him no financial assistance. Now, on the morning of the twentieth of August, the King set out from London to meet his own forces in the North. On that exact same night, a Scottish army of twenty thousand men crossed the Tweed River into England.
The head of the Royalist forces was Thomas Wentworth, the Earl of Stratford. He hoped that the site of an invading army would enrage all good Englishmen and turn the tide in Charles's favor, but that proved not to be the case. It helped that the Scottish army was extremely well disciplined and well behaved. Now meanwhile, by Count Conway, he was in charge of Newcastle, had been ordered to
fortify the banks of the Tyne River. He left two thirds of his troops to protect the city and took the remainder, about four miles above Newcastle, to a ford in the river. In Newbern, the Scots took up a position opposite him on the north bank, where they fired into the enemy. The English soldiers, unaccustomed to gunshop, fled after some of their numbers were killed. The cavalry also retired in disarray. It was the first major victory of
a Scottish army over the English for about three hundred years. Charles, the first, through his proxies, had now effectively failed in battle, the single most important disgrace that could stain the honor of a king. The Battle of Newbern can also, if you want, be considered the first of the English Civil War, since two rival parties had now for the first time fought on English soil. After their defeat, the English army retired to the borders of Yorkshire, leaving Durham and Northumberland
in the hands of the enemy. The vital city of Newcastle quickly surrendered. The news of the royal defeat at Newbern was greeted with celebrations in London. Twelve peers of the realm nobility of Puritan persuasion now issued in the traditional manner, a petition to the monarch in which they demanded a parliament. The King reacted to this somewhat medieval request in a thoroughly medieval way. He received the petition at York and summoned a Great Council of the Peers.
He may have hoped that they would raise large sums of money for him without the assistance of Parliament, but in this hope he was disappointed. Archbishop Laud, who had a much cooler head through all all this, was much more realistic and believed that the Great Council would lead inevitably to the calling of another Parliament, which would, not, in his estimation, go well. And so the Peers of England met at York on the twenty fourth in September.
In his opening speech to them, the King announced that he would indeed some in Parliament to meet at the beginning of November. It was hoped that on the basis of this, those assembled would lend him money. In the debate that followed, it was eventually decided, though, that there would be no money forthcoming. Instead, what the peers decided to do was to send a group to negotiate with
the Scottish Commissioners. The high Nobility of the Realm also repeated their previous demand that Charles call a parliament where a permanent peace treaty could be agreed to. In other words, what we see here is the nobility of the Realm effectively turning its back on Charles. They trust Parliament, not him, and so if Charles had hoped to ferment a Royalist
party at this point, he was badly disappointed. So ultimately, negotiators from the Scots and the English met at the town of Rippon, where it was concluded that the King would pay the Scots twenty five thousand pounds a month until a peace treaty had been reached. This was essentially
to prevent them from invading England. Further, now, it seemed likely that only Parliament would be able to supply the king with such a sum the peers at York were asked to advise the acceptance or rejecting of the agreement. It was, of course not a debate at all. Everyone agreed immediately. The King had no choice. He was going to have to accept this agreement. He had no choice. He had to submit to the claims of these invaders, and he also had to call a parliament. There just
wasn't a way around it. Remember back a couple episodes ago, I discussed how during the period of personal rule, the only way that this would work would be if there was peace. The moment there was war, it was a foregone conclusion. Charles was going to have to call parliament again, and so this experiment of absolute monarchy in England had come to an abrupt end after about ten years. Now. Meanwhile,
down in London, parliamentarians were already getting prepared. They understood what the Scots wanted, and in turn, the Covenanters relied upon the help of their English friends in Parliament to engineer the necessary change. As in religion, this was it's going to develop into the so called quote unquote Protestant cause of the English Civil War. Now, unlike the previous short parliament. The voting in these parliamentary elections was unusually combative,
with eighty six contests. That's an increase of about twenty five percent compared to the last parliamentary elections, which just goes to show you. Everybody recognized how important the parliament that was about to be called truly was. And so on November third, the King finally traveled south to meet this new parliament. As soon as they were assembled, in debate, the members of Commons issued just a laundry list of grievances against the conduct of the King's counselors, mostly against
the Earl of Stratford and Archbishop Laud. The disillusion of the short parliament before any measures of reform could be agreed had not improved the temper of the Commons. Sixty percent of them had sat in the previous assembly, and they were now more angry than ever. Yet the largest group in the Commons was still that of the landed gentry, who were in essence conservative and much less inclined to innovation. They didn't want to destroy the King or the Orthodox constitution.
They wanted government to be restored upon the old model. Yet even this group had been disappointed by the king's conduct. To say the least, They had watched as their king lost a war. They had watched as he alienated all of his natural supporters. They had observed him in the company of Roman Popish courtiers around his wife, and most importantly, they had witnessed the disruption of the rule of law and the disruption of the English economy, and they didn't
like it. All. The parliamentarians, this group included, now understood that they had the cards. They knew that the King had relied upon them to salvage him from the disaster that Charles had somehow got himself into. If Parliament did not supply the King with the funds, he would not be able to pay the Scottish Army as he had agreed to, and the inevitable invasion of England would recommence. It didn't take long for the parliamentarians to focus their
ire on the Earl of Stratford back north. The Scots believed that Stratford was the cause of the war between the two nations. Puritans hated him. The city of London, that is now more powerful than ever, remembered how he had threatened its aldermen with hanging if they didn't produce enough money. It was agreed by the King to take some natural steps, and his councilors urged him to increase the defenses of the Tower of London. This fortification was
meant as a warning to the city. The tower was also the likely destination for those about to be arrested. Stratford at the time was quoted as saying that quote he hoped the city would be subdued in a short time end quote. On November the eleventh, Charles was expected to the tower and inspect its garrison. None of this, however, was going to go the way that Charles and the Earl of Stratford expected it too. Instead, him, the member of Parliament I mentioned last time, decided that they would
act first. He went to the House of Lords with orders to accuse the Earl of Stratford of high treason and to recommend that he be immediately sequestered from Parliament. Stratford had been told of the events then unfolding, and he said, quote, I will go and look my accusers
in the face end quote. It should be noted that the lords themselves had a lot of grievances against Stratford, who was definitely the King's most arrogant and most difficult advisor, and on his entry he was commanded by them to withdraw. An order was then passed committing Stratford to the custody of the Gentleman Usher. He was directed to to the chamber and to kneel while the order was read to him. Stratford then asked permission to speak, but this was denied.
His sword was taken from him and the Earl was led away. At this point Stratford was effectively removed from public life, and Charles had lost his principal counselor. It was a brilliant stroke by Pim, who was able to mastermine this sort of advanced attack. Now was widely assumed by everyone that this had been a huge accomplishment very very quickly for Parliament. The King was now required to disburse the garrison he had established within the tower and
to dismantle any guns that had been recently mounted. His attempt again to simply overawe his opponents, this time the people of London in Parliament had failed again. This is yet another one of those humiliating reversals that had become sort of the hallmark of Charles's rule. With the threat of disillusion or a coup now removed, Parliament could believe its work in earnest and this was important because most members of Parliament believed it was time for a whole
scale renovation of government. A Committee for Petitions was quickly established to deal with the various complaints that had cropped up throughout the Kingdom. While all this was going on, evidence was brought forward against Stratford on the twenty fourth of November sixteen forty and was formulated in the first
article of indictment against him. The Commons was asked to declare that quote Thomas, Earl of Stratford, hath traitorously endeavored to subvert the fundamental laws and government of the realms of England and Ireland, and instead therefore to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government against the law end quote. If you could tell the key were there was traitorously. It had become clear to everyone playing this game that Stratford
could not be allowed to live. If he evaded the charge of treason, he would become the focused of Royalist hopes and might even bring back non parliamentary government. Now, while all this was going on. Of course, there were arguments over religion. In fact, arguments over religion were the heart and soul of this first session of what, by the way, is going to become known now as the Long Parliament. This was all outweighing any concerns whatsoever over
secular misgovernment, of which there were plenty. Already, the Puritans were in full pursuit of the Armenians. A London crowd had burst into Saint Paul's Cathedral, where it destroyed the altar and tore up Laud's new book of Liturgy. And so on December the eleventh, the citizens of London presented a petition to Parliament calling for reformation in church government.
It declared that the government of archbishops and local lords, deacons and archdeacons, etc. Has provided prejudicial and very dangerous both to the Church and commonwealth, and therefore it urged that ecclesiastical governments should be destroyed, all dependencies, roots and branches. The idea here was to eliminate the episcopal structure and replace it with something much more puritan, much more small, much more local, much more focused on scripture. Fifteen hundred
supporters gathered in favor of this petition at Westminster. Having laid the groundwork, it was now time for Parliament to attack the archbishop himself. On the eighteenth of December, Laud was impeached and taken into custody. He was accused of fostering doctrines that lent support to the King's arbitrary measures, and of using the courts both to impose innovations in
worship and to silence the true professors of England. The members of Parliament now determined to consolidate the strength that they had. On the twenty fourth of December, it was recommended that the English Lord Commissioners, which in effect meant the Puritan lords who had launched the petition for Parliament in the summer, should be responsible for the disbursement of money to the Scots. This was clear as a message. They wanted to say two things. Number one, the King
lacked the resources to pay the Scots. In fact, he didn't have the resources to pay his own household expenses. And two, the message to the Scots was clear. Parliament was now in charge of England, not the King. The King was not the one who was going to bring you the money. It was going to be the parliamentarians. It was further agreed that Parliament should meet at fixed times,
with or without the cooperation of the King. At this time, the Venetian ambassador reported that quote, if this innovation is introduced, it will hand over the reigns of government completely to Parliament, and nothing will be left to the King, but mayor show he'll be stripped of credit and destitute of all authorities end quote. What remained to be seen was whether Charles would willingly relinquish his powers. By the year of sixteen forty one, the king was truly in desperate streets.
His authority and his revenue were both on the brink, and his principal counselors were now languishing in the tower. Charles himself tried to keep his spirits and his health up. He believed implicitly that the enemies of the Lord's anointed, that is, his enemies, would be of necessity fail, that all the traders would eventually be brought to justice. That,
of course, had to be God's will. So on January the twenty third, Charles summoned both houses of Parliament to the Banqueting House at Whitehall and delivered a speech in which he complained about the obstructions placed in his path by men quote who put no difference betwixt reformation and alteration of government end quote. Yet for the first time he did seem a little conciliatory. He seemed willing to compromise.
He promised to return to the laws of religious policy, to the quote purest time of Queen Elizabeth's days end quote. Yet the status of his most faithful servant, the Earl of Stratford, was still very much in doubt. It was already whispered at court that Stratford must rely upon his own protestations of innocence, and if they should fail, upon the mercy of Parliament Charles was unwilling to fight for him.
Charles seems to have realized now that only Stratford's death could bring about the reconciliation that he desired with his people. At the end of the month, the charges that were drawn up against the Earl included twenty eight separate articles covering the last fourteen years of his career, and outlined
on over two hundred sheets of paper. Now at the beginning of February, the Commons, having to deal with foreign affairs now voted three hundred thousand pounds to the Scots under the name of quote unquote brotherly assistance the two nations they determined were not to be divided. They also passed the Triennial Bill, a bill which would guarantee the meeting of Parliament on a regular basis. The bill was a major blow to royal prerogative, and Charles had been
most reluctant to give his assent. His power was of course extremely limited if he couldn't dismiss and call Parliament as he wished, and his authority compromised. Yet on the sixteenth of February, he was persuaded to concede the issue, partially from the advice that he would receive no money whatsoever after any refusal. So he declared, in the old Norman fashion, Leroy, the King wishes it now in private.
Of course, Charles was furious about this. In fact, the act made him reliant upon Parliament and gave the Assembly that permanent existence that had never known before in English history. In fact, it was already rumored that there was going to be a new Privy Council created, and it would
reflect the wishes this time of the Commons. In addition to the King, the King doing his best to try to avoid all these exigencies, had declared himself to be a moderate, equally ready to forgive his enemies and to turn his policies in light of complaints directed against them. At the same time, he was still desperately trying to
pursue a divide and conquer strategy. Many in Parliament did not share the religious enthusiasm of the Scottish Covenanters, and had no wish to see the English Church remodeled to satisfy their demands. Others were already beginning to resent the amount of money being spent for the maintenance of the Scottish army in the North. Charles could pull these groups onto his side, maybe, just maybe he could hold on to power. The compromise with the Puritans of Parliament did not,
in the end succeed. The King had insisted that in order to take up the offices of state that he promised to various men, they must agree to retain the bishops and the House of Lords, and to spare the Earl of Stratford's life. They in turn turned around and demanded that they would be granted at any offices that they wanted, particularly in the Privy Council before doing anything
at all. In the end, there was no space between these two positions, and no grand reconciliation occurred, And so on the fourteenth of February, Stratford was brought from the tower to the chamber of the House of Lords to answer all the charges that had been laid against him. Stratford, according to our sources, defended himself well with eloquence and wit, throwing into serious doubt the result of any trial. Within days, it was reported that the parliamentary leaders didn't know how
to proceed with their case. Sure it was all well and good is simply declared that Stratford was a trader. But as many have found out through life, proving it in court is a lot more difficult. They went forward with the trial anyway, which opened on the twenty second of March. This, it turned out, was a spectac very much that might determine the fate of the nation, as the prisoner fought both for his life but also for the cause of the king. Now negotiations were continuing behind
the scenes. The Puritans were ready to spare Stratford's life, for example, if the king agreed to grant them the Great Offices of State. When the twenty eight articles of impeachment were read to him, Stratford was seen to smile. He could already see the legal difficulties besetting his accusers. They were attempting to prove treason essentially by accumulation that no one thing was treasonus. But if you put him all together, they somehow got you there. That's a tricky
needle to thread right there. The days passed with witnesses and questions and arguments, in the course of which Stratford seemed to really enjoy himself. It was quite the amateur lawyer. It turned out, he could outwit the councils for the prosecut cution, while in turn they did a terrible job. All the reports that we have of the trial showed that the parliamentarians were seen as bombastic and antagonistic and didn't come off well to the Lords who had to
decide the case. When on the tenth of April, the Lords allowed an enjurement for the prisoner to consult his notes before making a closing speech, the Commons protested in fury. Now it seemed what was really happening was the two houses, the Lords and the Commons, had moved into an antagonistic position. Now, the members of the Commons returned to their chamber in the afternoon, and at this opportune moment, certain notes taken at a previous meeting of the Privy Council happened to
sort of conveniently show up. This was the council during which Stratford had told the King that quote, you have an army in Ireland, you may employ it here to reduce this kingdom. In the quote, now, the accusers of Stratford interpreted this kingdom to be England. That remains arguable, remember, because this is at the beginning of the First Bishop's War. Now, this, of course would have been treason, and the Commons readily agreed, and so they decided to try a new tact. They
drew up a bill of attainder. A bill of attainder is a medieval device whereby both houses of parliaments could simply condemn to death an enemy of the kingdom without the formality or requirement of any trial. It was also a way of persuading the House of Lords to vote for Stratford's death without the burden of any legal proof. As an aside, bill of tainders are going to be
directly banned by the United States Constitution. On April nineteenth, the King ordered all military officers immediately to return to their regiments. When a negotiator from Scotland had an audience with the King two days later, he reported that quote his mind seems to be on some project here shortly to break out end quote. It was also rumored that the French, inspired by the Queen HENRIETI Maria, were about to invade. What the leaders of the parliamentary faction feared
most was a disillusion of Parliament. If that happened, both the trial and the proposed bill of attainder would be immediately canceled. In other words, they would lose all their momentum, and so they moved fast. On that same day, April nineteenth, the Commons hastily passed the bill of attainer against the Earl of Stratford. When the Commons passed the attainer, the King wrote to Stratford and assured him once again that
he had his word he would be spared now. Two days later, the King addressed both houses of Parliament from his throne. In his speech, he emphasized again some conciliatory themes that he would never again act against his conscience. This was taken to mean that he would veto any attainer against his counselor, however, by many, let them find Stratford guilty of just a misdemeanor, and he would take
it no problem. The king also, unfortunately refused to disband his Irish Army, which in turn continued to raise fears of military action. Soon rumors of plots and counterplots were literally everywhere. For some weeks, a vessel chartered by Stratford's secretary had been moored in the Thames River. The boat could easily take an escape prisoner to France. Some of
these reports were true. On Sunday, May the second Sir John Suckling, a courtier and army commander, poet and notable gambler, called sixty men to the White House tavern in Beard Street. There they wore battle dress and carried swords. They were supposed to gain entrance to the Tower of London in the guise of reinforcements, where they would at once overwhelm the guard and secure Stratford's liberty. It was an insane scheme, made all the more improbable by the sight of sixty
armed men milling about in the middle of London. Their presence was quickly known and interpreted, and the news passed immediately to the leaders of Park Lament. A tumultuous crowd of Londoners quickly gathered and ringed around the Tower of London to prevent any effort. Nothing happened. It was now proposed by the Commons to try to regain a little
bit of the momentum to pass a religious manifesto. The as it was called Grand Remonstrance, devised by the Commons, was in sense an English version of the old Scottish Covenant, binding those who signed it to an oath that they would remain loyal to quote the true Reformed Protestant religion against popery and Popish innovation end quote. It was quickly printed and circulated throughout the country, addressing and inspiring what
we now probably should just call a parliamentary party. On May the fifth, the Commons, fearful of now another papist uprising, in response to the Grand Remonstrance, ordered all the towns, cities and counties of England to ensure that their arms and munitions were well prepared. A papist plot amounted in the context of course, to a royalist plot. And again the lines are drawn and you could see the sides
starting to form. On the day that a new bill was passed allowing Parliament to remain in session until it voted for its own dissolution, this was the moment it was said that reform turned into revolution. This was the moment, if we're going to talk, that Charles lost his right to govern. Now, the lords themselves had directed that an armed force should take command of the tower, thus divesting the King of responsibility for military affairs, striking another blow
to his authority. Meanwhile, this issue with the attainder and the Earl of Stratford continued. A delegation from both houses of Parliament now carried the document of attainder to the Banqueting House for the King's signature. The House of Lords had passed it as well. The members were accompanied by a crowd of approximately twelve thousand people, which is pretty decently sized for this sort of an affair, calling out justice, Justice.
The King, understandably demoralized, now said that he would give his response on Monday morning, but this delay did not please the assembled crowd, who promptly gathered again outside the palace gate. If the King refused to sign the attainder, many predicted that the palace would be attacked and that the King and Queen placed into custody. Charles quickly conferred with his bishops and the remaining privy councilors that he had, many of whom urged him to sign the bill condemning
Stratford to death slowly, and I should say, reluctantly. King Charles nodded and signed the document, and so on May twelfth, sixteen forty one, Statford went to his death on Tower Hill in front of what was to say the largest crowd ever gathered in England, crowds of two hundred Thus thou people watched his progress through the city in an
atmosphere of carnival and rejoicing. In his final words from the scaffold, the earl declared, quote, I wish that every man would lay his hand on his heart and consider seriously whether the beginning of the people's happiness should be written in letters of blood. He knelt in prayer for about a half an hour, then laid himself down on the block. His head was off in one stroke. England would require many more as we're about to see now.
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