ABSTRACT
Few commentators who surveyed the political scene in the British Isles in the summer of 1637 would have concluded that Charles I’s rule over his three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland was likely to be seriously threatened in the foreseeable future. All three British states appeared outwardly calm and stable, their representative assemblies had been subdued or cast aside, and no significant challenge to royal authority had emerged in any of them over the previous few years. Charles furthermore had no real financial worries and faced no pressing threats from foreign powers. Within five years, however, this apparently benign state of affairs had taken a very serious turn for the worse; by the summer of 1642 Charles had completely lost control over Scotland and much of Ireland, and England stood on the brink of full-scale civil war. This chapter will provide a narrative account of the breakdown of the king’s authority in his three kingdoms during the late 1630s and early 1640s, before going on to consider who should bear the responsibility for this descent into rebellion and civil war.
