JAMES: On the 24th of March 1603, the kingdoms of England and Ireland encountered a small problem. Their queen, Elizabeth I, was dead.

[GRUNTING]

She would have been succeeded by her son, except she didn't have one-- or any children at all for that matter, which left the English throne vacant. There were a few candidates to succeed her. But the only one to enjoy any real support was her closest royal relative, the king of Scotland, James the VI of the House of Stuart, who had reigned in England as King James I.

James I ruled his kingdoms until 1625 when he died of dysentery, and was succeeded by his 25-year-old son Charles. England's previous monarchs, King James and Elizabeth I, both cracked down on those who fought against England state religion, the Church of England. But Charles, while still a Protestant and the head of the church, was seen as more tolerant towards Catholics, even marrying one.

That didn't sit well with England's parliament, which by the 1600s had evolved from random groups of nobility, meeting whenever the king needed money, to an independent institution of its own, which represented to some extent the common people. Charles's religious views, though, would only be the first of his many quarrels with parliament. Soon after he came to the throne, Charles wanted to wage war against Spain. But parliament, seeing that there was little to gain for the enormous cost of a war effort, refused to raise the taxes to pay for it.

In response, Charles used his royal prerogative-- basically, he said, I'm the king and I get to do whatever I want, to dissolve parliament in 1629. And they wouldn't meet again for another 11 years. Technically, this wasn't illegal. As king, Charles had every right to rule the country as he saw fit.

What he couldn't do, though, was raise taxes. That right was reserved for parliament. So in 1640, when Charles' Scottish subjects rebelled against his religious reforms, he recalled parliament and asked for money and men.

To just about nobody's surprise, considering he had ignored them and acted like a tyrant for 11 years, this new parliament, known as the Short Parliament, said no. And Charles dissolved it after only three weeks. However, without the money to fight them, the Scots occupied northern England, and Charles was forced to recall parliament-- this one called the Long Parliament, in order to pay off the invading army.

But the Long Parliament wouldn't be pushed around so easily by the king. They passed a number of laws restricting Charles's power and increasing their own, including removing much of his royal prerogative and mandating that parliament be called at least once every three years. This alarmed much of the nobility, because after all, if parliament could go after the king, they could go after just about anyone.

The nobility rallied around Charles in opposition to the Long Parliament, and royalist standards were raised at Nottingham on August 22, 1642, beginning the First English Civil War. The war was fought between Cavaliers, supporters of the king who held northern England, and Roundheads supporters of parliament who held the southeast. For much of 1643, it seemed like the Cavaliers would win an easy victory.

But Charles' army was prevented from invading the south and defeating parliament. To break the deadlock, parliament struck a secret deal with Scotland, promising them money, and that the English church would be based on a Scottish one. Of course, parliament had no intention of keeping either of those promises. But nonetheless, the Scots and the Roundheads defeated the Cavaliers at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644.

It was in that battle that a Puritan cavalry commander named Oliver Cromwell rose to prominence. The Cavaliers were defeated again at the Battle of Naseby a year later by parliament's new model army under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax. Facing near certain defeat, Charles handed himself over to the Scottish, who probably handed him to England's parliament.

The First English Civil War was over, but that wasn't the end of the story. While Charles was held prisoner by the Scottish, he made an agreement called the Engagement, where the Scots pledged to invade England in 1648 and restore his powers. So they did, but they failed, and the Second English Civil War was over within a year. At the same time, most of the Long Parliament was purged for opposing Oliver Cromwell and the New Model Army. The body that replaced the Long Parliament who subsequently called the Rump Parliament. The Rump and Cromwell were now completely done with Charles.

Even still, most Englishmen did want him to remain on the throne, just as a constitutional monarch. It was even said that only about 100 people in all England wanted the king dead. Unfortunately for Charles, those 100 people happened to be the ones who actually had the power to do it. And he became the first and only English King to be executed for treason in 1649.

[GRUNTING]

A year later, Charles' son, also called Charles, was crowned King of Scotland. And he attempted to claim the English throne by force-- the Third English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell was sent to destroy the Scottish army, and did it quite successfully. Charles fled to the continent, and Cromwell occupied Scotland and then Ireland uniting, the British Isles under his rule.

In 1653, Cromwell dismissed the Rump and replaced it with a body of his own creation, the Barebones Parliament. They were weak and ineffective. So Cromwell forced through a new Constitution, the Instrument of Government. This gave him near complete power by making him the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland-- basically, king without a crown. Despite this, royalists all over the country were still causing trouble.

However, Cromwell wouldn't have to deal with them for long, because in a truly brilliant move, he died in 1658. Just to confirm that being Lord Protector was absolutely nothing like being king, Oliver Cromwell's son Richard took his place as Lord Protector. However, no one really liked him. So he resigned in 1859, and the Rump Parliament was restored for just long enough to dissolve itself and restore the Long Parliament, which installed Charles I's son Charles II as King of England.

Next week, we'll look at the overthrow of Charles II's brother, James II, in the Glorious Revolution. But for now, don't forget to hit the Subscribe button and the bell, so you can get notified about our next video. Also don't forget to check out our last video on the Magna Carta by clicking on a link to the left. I've been James, and thank you for watching SuperEzhistory.