The Bishops' Wars was a series of wars between the Anglican King Charles I of England and Scotland and the rebellious Presbyterian Scottish Covenanters which occurred from 1639 to 1640 as a result of King Charles' attempts to impose uniform practices on the Church of Scotland and the Church of England. The Covenanters seized control of the Scottish government following the first war in 1639 and confirmed their implementation of a series of Calvinist reforms with a second victory in 1640. King Charles' summoning of England's Parliament in 1640 to levy new taxes for his wars in Scotland was one of the leading causes of the English Civil War, which broke out in 1642.
History[]
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century led to the establishment of the Church of Scotland, a church which was Presbyterian in structure and Calvinist in doctrine. Meanwhile, the English Reformation produced the Church of England, which was Episcopalian in structure, yet, under the influence of Archbishop William Laud, retained Roman Catholic practices such as a hierarchy of bishops and ritualistic worship practices. In 1603, King James VI of Scotland inherited the throne of England on the death of his childless relative, Queen Elizabeth I of England, bringing Scotland and England together under a personal union ruled by the House of Stuart. King James was a firm believer in the "divine right of kings" and the centralization of power in Britain, as was his son and successor, King Charles I of England. In 1637, King Charles attempted to extend his rigid form of worship to Scotland by imposing a new Book of Common Prayer upon the Kirk, leading to riots and unrest, which included the throwing of a stool at the first bishop to introduce the new form of worship. Devout Presbyterian Scots signed the "National Covenant", pledging resistance to liturgical innovations. While Covenanters agreed with the Royalists that the monarchy was divinely mandated, the Royalists held that the King was head of both church and state, while the Scots believed that the King presided only over secular matters, and that Jesus himself was the head of their church. Support for the Presbyterian Covenanters was widespread, with only Aberdeenshire and Banff remaining Royalist strongholds. James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton advised King Charles that war was the only way for the King to regain control over Scottish affairs, so King Charles decided to dispatch a 20,000-strong English army to advance on Edinburgh from the south while Hamilton would lead 5,000 Scots Royalists in an amphibious landing in Aberdeen before linking up with the Marquess of Huntly. Lastly, an Irish army led by the Earl of Antrim was to invade western Scotland from Carrickfergus before joining forces with the MacDonalds and other Royalist clans. However, these plans were hampered by a lack of funds and by English Puritan support for the Covenanter cause.
War[]
First Bishops' War[]
At the start of the war, the Scots quickly occupied Dumbarton, preventing any prospect of an Irish landing, while James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose occupied Aberdeen in March, preventing Hamilton from disembarking his troops. The Royalists recaptured Aberdeen in April, and an army of 15,000 English conscripts was assembled at Berwick-upon-Tweed. King Charles planned to reinforce these poorly-armed and poorly-trained soldiers with Catholic mercenaries from the Spanish Netherlands, creating controversy among his Protestant subjects. King Charles joined his troops at Berwick on 30 May, and he announced that he would not invade Scotland as long as the Scots remained ten miles north of the border. On 19 June, after a period of talks, the Pacification of Berwick was signed, with all disputed questions being referred to the governing body of the Church of Scotland or the Scottish Parliament. However, both sides viewed the pacification as a truce and made preparations for a second round of conflict.
Second Bishops' War[]
Covenanters marching into battle
In August 1639, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met again and passed a series of acts which amounted to a constitutional revolution, including tri-annual Parliaments and making the Covenant compulsory for all public office-holders. King Charles' advisors convinced the King that the only way to finance a second war would be to recall the English Parliament, so writs were issued in December 1639. In March 1640, Parliament approved an army of 9,000 troops to suppress the Covenanters, but, in April, King Charles dismissed his "Short Parliament" after the Puritan leader John Pym demanded that the King end his oppressive "ship money" tax policy before Parliament would approve subsidies. King Charles was thus forced to rely on his own resources to fund the war. At the same time, the Covenanters occupied Aberdeen, the main Royalist stronghold in the north-east.
In June 1640, the Scottish Parliament granted the Marquess of Argyll authorization to use "fire and sword" against Royalist areas in Lochaber, Badenoch, and Rannoch. A force of 5,000 Covenanters burned and looted across a large area, destroying Airlie Castle in the process. The Covenanters also captured Dumbarton Castle, preventing the English Earl of Strafford's Irish army from landing in Scotland. Alexander Leslie then raised 20,000 well-equipped Covenanters and invaded England, crossing the River Tweed on 17 August. The Scots army easily defeated the English forces hastily thrown against them at the Battle of Newburn, and then marched on to occupy Newcastle on 30 August. King Charles was forced to make peace as his army's morale collapsed, and the October 1640 Treaty of Ripon allowed the Scots to occupy Northumberland and County Durham pending the final resolution of peace terms.
Aftermath[]
In November 1640, King Charles was forced to recall his Parliament to pay the Scots a daily indemnity of £850, and Parliament reasserted its control by having the Earl of Strafford executed in May 1641. In August, the Scots finally evacuated Northern England after the Treaty of London. At the same time, a rebellion broke out in Ireland, and the inability of the King or Parliament to agree over control the army raised to suppress the uprising was one of the causes of the English Civil War, which broke out in August 1642. In 1643, the Covenanters formed the Solemn League and Covenant with the Puritan-led English Parliamentarians, fearing the consequences of Parliament's defeat in the First English Civil War. However, by 1646, the Presbyterian Scots believed that Oliver Cromwell's dominant "Independent" faction of the Parliamentarian cause - whiich opposed Presbyterian support for a state church - was a greater threat than King Charles' Cavaliers, leading to a faction of the Covenanters, the "Engagers", supporting King Charles during the Second English Civil War.