KLB Year 8 History -The English Civil War

Read the passage below, filling in the gaps with the words from the drop-down lists.

In the English Civil war began.

There were many causes which led up to fighting between the , supporters of the King, and the , supporters of Parliament.

The King, , had ruled England without calling Parliament for many years.  The only reason to call Parliament was when he needed money, but he found a way round this, for example by charging a tax called which had normally only been for people living on the coast of England.

He was also unpopular because his wife was a and Parliament, as well as most of the country, was .

The fighting started with the battle of .  It was indecisive, but one of the Generals on Parliament's side, , soon realised that Parliament would never win unless they had a strong fighting force.  He sponsored the first 'professional' army, this was organised and trained by Thomas Fairfax, its commander in chief. and was known as the .

In 1645 they met the King's army at and despite being outnumbered 3 to 1 won a decisive victory which more or less brought the war to an end.

The King was arrested and held prisoner.  Even though Parliament tried to offer him a deal whereby he would lose a lot of his power, he betrayed them by trying to start a second civil war.  This was regarded as and so he was brought to trial for being a 'tyrant and traitor' to the people of England.  He was found guilty as charged and beheaded in .

Parliament then ruled the country, but turned out to be almost as corrupt as the King.

This period in English history from 1649 to 1653 is known as .  In 1653 was invited to be King. He declined the title but ruled the country as .

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