The English Civil War

Much has been written and much can be written about the English Civil War. Great debate exists as to its causes and the bases for the division of the country into supporters of the King and those of the Parliament. Some see the war as a revolution of the bourgeoisie and gentry against the King and feudal class to permit the development of capitalism. Marxists describe it as a class war that allowed for the transition between feudalism and capitalism.

Unfortunately for the Marxists, as occurs with their many theories, the facts do not support this simplistic assessment. As many historians have pointed out, many members of all "classes" fought on both sides of the English Civil War. Many issues contributed to the conflicts that gave rise to the Civil War, but the fundamental source of conflict between the King and his subjects arose out of the inadequacy of the Crown's traditional sources of income to support the military and civil government needs of 17th century England.

The feudal king and nobility provided for civil government and peacetime defense from their personal properties and traditional feudal taxes. That system proved adequate to support medieval armies in which the armoured knight ruled the battlefield. As warfare changed to the pike and shot formations, the requirements to support the military changed substantially. Rather than supporting a limited number of well armed and trained knights, the country had to support large numbers of pikemen and musketeers or hire mercenaries who trained in the complicated movements year round.

This greatly increased the cost of the military for the King. No longer could he support the army and civil government from his own properties and traditional sources of revenue. This led to attempts to increase his revenues through means that citizens saw as violating the King's obligations under traditions. In hindsight the solution to the conflict appears obvious to all; however, in the event, arriving at that answer required a civil war and the murder of the King.