When King Charles I raised his standard (army flag) at Nottingham on 22 August 1642, the Civil War had begun. There is no one reason why the war started but a number of linked reasons. The main issues were: The relationship between the King and the Parliament, religion, money and power.
Money was an important cause of disagreement between the King and Parliament. Right at the start of Charles’ reign, he and Parliament argued over who’s right it was to control the taxes and the country. Later the Parliament was angry that he had banished them and then later came to them for money and he also tried to arrest their MP’s.
Religion was a major cause of tension in England in fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Charles’ religious policies raised the tension. His Protestant enemies were very suspicious of Charles. When he first came to the throne, it seemed like he was caring for the Catholics because he wasn’t being strict to them if they were caught in England. Later in 1637, Charles tried to impose a new prayer book on the Scots. The Scots rebelled against the new prayer book.
Behind these two arguments lay the argument about power. MP’s wanted to get rid of Charles’ advisor, ‘Duke of Buckingham’ to be vanished from his position as they didn’t trust him and also wanted the control over the taxes as Charles did not let them take power of it when they are supposed to. Charles believed that a King, he can take power of everything as he rules the country and the Parliament doesn’t. This means he can take taxes from people without the Parliaments permission even though he had to the permission.
These disagreements
