This section will focus on the ideas that underpinned the English Revolution. What was the conflict about intellectually, in the realm of ideas? The following section will explore the actual catalysts, or triggers, that set the war off. Here we investigate the broad themes that divided the nation and ultimately brought it to war. Viewed generally, there were a number of factors that caused resentment between the two camps, these camps being follower

s of King Charles I, and supporters of the Parliamentarians. Rifts between the Crown and the Parliament were notable under James I, for example, whose personal unpopularity helped to strengthen Parliament’s hand. A particular bone of contention was his refusal to compromise on religious issues with the Puritans. The King also clashed with Parliament on questions of finance and supply in the early part of the 17th century.

To begin, it is worth noting that the English Revolution has also been called the Puritan Revolution. The title explains a great deal about the war’s sources of conflict. The opponents of King Charles I tended to have a distinctly religious complexion, that being predominantly Puritan. As we will see, when Charles I was ultimately defeated, the episcopacy was simultaneously abolished. But religious issues should not overshadow the significance of constitutional ones, nor the underlying social and economic factors that primarily contributed to the uprising.

By the Revolution of 1688, which can only be described as a constitutional crisis, a bill of rights emerged in 1689. It established that only Protestants could wear the English crown, and the monarch was required to uphold Protestantism and the statutes, laws and customs of the realm as well. The Triennial Act of 1694 assured regular parliamentary sessions. Two other important pieces of legislation resulted from the Revolution: first, the Mutiny Act of 1689, limited the monarch’s use of martial law; and second, the Toleration Act of the same year, which was intended to be part of a broad religious settlement. But it failed, largely because the Anglican clergy would not give up its monopoly, and dissenters refused to compromise. As such, the Revolution helped to entrench religious problems that preceded the war.

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