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Who Caused the English Civil War?

Decent Essays

I do not agree with the statement that mistakes by parliament caused the civil war. Instead, I believe that it was King Charles’s personality, which was the most important factor as to why the English civil war broke out, in particular his stubbornness in refusing to allow others to make important decisions. I also believe that it was power, rather than money or religion, which was also beneficiary to the start of the English civil war. As I touched upon in the opening paragraph, King Charles’s reluctance to share his power was one of the main causes of the civil war. Rather than conferring to Parliament as to which decisions he was to make, he appointed personal advisors. Charles was not a popular king with the English people, who were infuriated by three main reasons: his control of the nations power, his control of the nations money, and even whether England was a Protestant or Catholic country. Like Charles himself; these advisors were profoundly unpopular in what at that time was Stuart England. Notable advisors of King Charles I include Thomas Wentworth, who was the Earl of Stafford, and George Villiers, who at that time was the Duke of Buckingham. Source 1 is a popular Stuart rhyme which many of Charles’s opponents sung at the beginning of his reign. The lyrics were “Who rules the country? The King. Who rules the King? The Duke. Who rules the Duke? The Devil.” In this popular 17th century rhyme, the Duke referred to is the Duke of Buckingham, who as mentioned

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